Green
by asiandollarboy
Summary: Izuku Midoriya, medical mystery. At the age of four, he was diagnosed with no quirk. So it came as a surprise to everyone when he grew a second heart at age five. By age fourteen, the doctor ripped his own notes to shreds, "22 new organs. Still no sign of the Quirk metagene." Somehow, Izuku had become a Space Marine when no one was looking. Slight 40k reference. Not a crossover.
1. Chapter 1: Origin

Disclaimer: Don't own anything.

Chapter 1: Origins

**Izuku**

I knew that I was different from the others at a very young age. It was a hard truth embedded into me by the other neighborhood kids. The Quirk-less Wonder, they called me. It was true, in a sense. I was scrawny and weak, so obviously I wasn't born with a powerful mutant-type quirk. I couldn't manifest flames, or summon lightning, so we could cross out emitter-type too. Wasn't transformation-type quirk either, as far as I could tell, although I had tried countless times. Really, my quirk seemed to be the fact that I _had_ no quirk. In this world of superheroes and supervillains, that was a rarity. Enough to set me apart from the others.

And, well, you know how kids are. I remember acutely how Katsuki Bakugou used to take advantage of my weakened status to push me around. I never blamed him for it. I still don't. Because beyond my hope to be a hero, I understood one thing very clearly: the weak have no say in anything. So I took the abuse and the scorn with my best watery imitation of the All Might smile, and always patted my dirty, muddy self off before coming home so my mother wouldn't worry.

Ah, my mother. She was a sweet woman, and I loved her to bits. She tried her best to cheer me up, but I suspect she knew what was really going on. She never said anything, but sometimes I caught her quickly dabbing at her eyes when she thought I wasn't looking. I hated seeing her cry, so I always gave her the biggest smile I could and a huge hug, telling her about my day and how much fun I had playing Hero with the other kids. We both knew it was a lie, but she played along.

My father… well.

Anyhow, I was different from the others. Then my fifth birthday came up. It… was kind of a traumatic memory, so to say. I had invited all the kids in my class to my birthday party. When the time came, no one showed. I sat there at an empty table, dumb paper hat on my head, waiting for the doorbell to ring. One hour, two hours. My mother called all the other parents, but they were either busy or just didn't pick up. I had never seen her so frustrated she was about to cry. I wanted to console her, seeing that. No one should ever cry on my behalf, especially someone as kind and loving as my mother. I wanted to give her a big smile, tell her it was okay. But there was a weight in my chest, like my heart was being gripped by a large fist. There was pressure behind my eyes, and a twinge of acid in my nose. I couldn't breathe. _Why?_ Just… why? There was an acute pain in my chest, slowly getting worse. I gripped my chest, fingers clawing into my shirt, but it wouldn't alleviate.

"Mom…" I croaked, looking up at her. She made eye contact, and seemed to immediately sense something was up. "Izuku, what…" I didn't hear the rest. The pounding in my chest seemed to extend upwards into my head, like someone had taken a battering ram inside my body. Before long, I blacked out from the pain.

**Green**

When I came to, I was lying on a bed, staring at a white ceiling. Besides me, men and women in white lab coats and stethoscopes around their neck were busy talking in hushed, excited whispers. I strained my ears, but could only pick out a few words, "_Second heart… hormone activity not seen in any… no quirk?... further tests…"_

My mother was quick to notice my awakening, having stayed by my side the entire week. That's right, I was out for a week, during which time my body somehow managed to grow an entire new heart. There was a tiny, wrapped box on the table next to me. "Your friend Katsuki came over to visit you," Mom had said, " said he felt guilty for not coming to your party." Somehow I didn't believe that. Most likely Aunty Mitsuki found out and threw a fit at Kacchan. But regardless, I grabbed the gift and unwrapped it gently. There was a card attached to the ribbon that held the wrapping paper together,

_Dear Deku,_

_ Here's your shitty gift. I only grabbed it cause I thought only someone pathetic like you might still be playing with dolls. You're probably crying cause no one bothered to come to your dumb party. Anyway, if you die then I'll have to come back to get this. Which will be a huge bother cause I already have one. Got it?_

_Signed,_

_Fucking me_

Within the wrapped gift paper was an All Might figurine, from his Silver Age. This was a rare collector's item. It wasn't in mint condition, though. I could tell the cardboard box had been opened before. And All Might himself had tiny minuscule scratches on his yellow boots. It was almost like… someone had put a toy they played with often back into a box and tried to pass it off as it was a new purchase.

My mom gently grabbed my attention away from the figurine,

"Izuku dear, the sensei has said you're all good to go, so put All Might away for now, alright?" She stood up from the chair she had been sitting on besides my bed, and exchanged an undecipherable look with the doctors in the room. We gathered our effects and left.

The next week, we came back. "Just a check-up," Mom said, "it's just procedure."

The week after, again to the hospital. Then the week after that. Eventually, the hospital visits became a weekly excursion. Once a week, Mom would drive me to the hospital, and we would be visited by a kindly old doctor named Dr. Ookado. He would run a bunch of tests on me that went right over my five-year-old brain. The process took maybe thirty minutes, and then we would leave. Before leaving, Mom would stop by the check-out counter, and the receptionist lady would hand her an envelope. A few years later I would find out it was money. She had been getting money from the hospital for letting them research my body. Now, before you freak out, it wasn't like she was using this money for herself. She had been saving it all in an account set aside for when I was older. Never touched a dollar of it.

Weeks became months, and before long, years. I was a child, but even I began to notice the changes in my body. Firstly, my height shot up like a bamboo shoot. I was heads and shoulders above anyone else in my class, including Kacchan. Wounds I got from scrapes and falls healed in seconds, and my blood was a brighter shade of red than anyone else's. Sometime around my eighth birthday, I stopped needing sleep. Well, sort of. I still need to, but I could go a long time without. From what Dr. Ookado explained to me, I was shutting of parts of my brain so I could function longer. Like a bottlenose dolphin.

At this point even the densest child would have questions. So I sought out my mother, one Saturday morning, ambushing her while she shuttled around the house with a laundry basket in hand. She took one look at my petulant face, hands crossed at my hips, and sighed. By this point I was already taller than she was. "I guess it's about time you knew the truth," she said.

For years I had, unknowingly, been the subject of a global study. Scientists from all over the world studied my case, the first example of a mutated human without the quirk metagene. It raised all sorts of questions about the nature of quirks, and other scientific mumbo-jumbo that went over my head. Ironically, I was known to the general public as the "Quirk-less Wonder." Kacchan would probably laugh his head off if he heard that one.I was a medical mystery because new organs were still popping up in my body, out of the blue. I dealt with this information like any normal person would: I immediately searched up myself on the internet. There were countless medical journals about me, and I begun to read about myself. Many terms flew over my head, but I persevered. It was exciting. My dreams of being a hero were inflamed once more. For the next six years, I spent pretty much most of my free time learning everything I needed to know in order to keep up with medical journals about myself.

At fourteen years old, I met my hero, All Might.

**Green**

I hummed a happy tune as I walked my way home from school. We had just gotten our career aspiration papers handed out today, and of course, I signed myself up for UA. One of two in my class, the other being Kacchan. No one was surprised at our decision, of course. We were easily the two strongest members in our school, him with his Explosion quirk, and me with my 'Power' quirk. The teaching staff regarded the two of us as shoo-ins for UA, even though some of them were a bit worried about Kacchan's personality.

I walked into a tunnel, the same tunnel I've walked for the past six years on my way home, ducking my head down a little to avoid hitting the "Maximum Height: 2 meters" sign, a few steps past a manhole.

I stopped. Something was … wrong. The tiny hairs on the back of my neck tingled, and everything was in sharp focus. I knew this feeling. This… danger sense, I felt it many times back in quirk training camp. I was being watched, and by someone with hostile intentions.

Unbeknownst to me, a dark green mud was rising out of the manhole cover behind me. Sickly yellow sclera emerged from within the sludge, as the villain bared it's sharp, ivory teeth in sadistic glee.

"Invisiblility cloak… size M." It mused.

The moment I heard the words, I lunged to the left, just in time to avoid the lunge from the villain. It looked like a mass of green mud with teeth. Lots and lots of teeth.

"And who are you supposed to be?" I asked, " A new villain?"

It bristled in anger. If mud could bristle, that is. "A new villain? How rude. I am the Sludge Villain. My quirk, Sludge, allows me to be immune to physical attacks and also hijack other people's bodies. Now, stay still. This'll only hurt for about forty-five seconds, and then it'll be all over."

Saying this, Sludge Villain shot a wave of sludge at me. I glanced around quickly while my mind raced, trying to find something that could help me. _Immune to physical attacks, huh_… this was bad. I was a physical attacker through and through. I need something to hold him off with until I can escape. My eyes naturally landed on the manhole cover Sludge Villain emerged from. It was a potential weapon… however, the problem was that it was right by Sludge Villain. I would only have one shot at this.

I dodged the wave of sludge, unslinging my backpack in the same movement, and chucked it at Sludge Villain's eyes. Midair, notebooks and pencils fell out of the bag, and luckily, the corner of one such notebook managing to nail right into the yellow sclera of Sludge Villain, causing it to roar out in pain and anger. I sprung towards the manhole, covering the distance in less than a second, and hooked a finger through one of the manhole holes, lifting up the metal circle with ease. I observed and roaring villain with a critical gaze, _I noticed that when he attacks, the mass of sludge on his main body seemed to lessen. This means that the sludge he controls is finite. If so, I just have to whittle it down slowly._

I changed my grip on the manhole cover, holding it in one hand, like a fan, and started slapping Sludge Villain. With every strike, I gouged out a part of Sludge Villain's body, spraying sludge across the tunnel walls. It seemed to work, as Sludge Villain's mass decreased slowly. It wailed in pain and anger, lashing out at me with tendrils of slime, but those I batted away too with the manhole cover. To anyone else watching, my arm would have looked like a blur, gouging away at Sludge Villain at blinding speeds. Sludge Villain couldn't even react, all the way until it was whittled down to just a puddle of mud on the ground with two, pitiful yellow eyes staring up at me.

"Please, I'm sorry, just let me go…" It wailed. I ignored it, and continued batting away at other pieces of sludge that kept trying to recombine with the main body. That was the scene All Might arrived to.

"I AM HERE… observing a strange scene?" The giant hero glanced at the scene in abject confusion. A green-haired teenager batting away globs of mud on the ground with a manhole cover. I'd be confused too.

It took a bit of teamwork, but eventually the number one hero and I managed to trap the Sludge Villain in a plastic bottle. "Good work, young man!" The blond hero grinned at me, blinding white teeth included, "You should be proud of what you did. Not many pro heroes could've dealt with that villain. What's your name?"

I gulped. This was my chance to impress my idol. "Izuku Midoriya. Sir."

"Well, young Midoriya. You've impressed me. I'll be sure to mention you as a critical factor in the arrestment of this villain."

"Thank you sir."  
"Remember, anyone can be a hero. If more people were to be like you, the world would be a better place. Goodbye!" With that said, the giant of a man jumped off into the distance.

"WAIT! I still… had a lot of questions." Well, that was a wasted opportunity. He was right in front of me, too. I should've at least asked for an autograph. Sighing in disappointment, I picked up my bags and left the scene.

**Green**

"Izuku! You're on the news!" My mom pointed to the TV in shock. On the screen was All Might speaking in an interview, "If it wasn't for that brave young man, I wouldn't have caught this villain. In fact, I arrived onto the scene after he did most of the work. As a hero, I'm ashamed, but I'm also very impressed." Having said that, the American Hero turned to face the camera directly, "Young Midoriya, as a reward for your brave deeds, you are invited to a VIP, all-expenses paid trip to I-Island, chaperoned by yours truly. HA HA HA!"

My jaws fell wide open.

_This has got to be a dream…_

**AN: New Author. I've been browsing for a while now but I'm not sure how everything works. Looking forward to writing so R&R. Work is not beta'd.**


	2. Chapter 2: I-Island

Chapter 2: I-Island

**Izuku**

_This is the most unreal thing ever,_ I thought. I was in a private jet, owned by THE David Shield himself, on my way to the greatest technological paradise ever created in the history of mankind. I-Island, said to have been the brainchild of every hero company in the world, created for the sole purpose of Quirk research. Over a thousand scientists and their families inhabit the island, each of them a leading member in their own respective field.

Across me sat All Might, looking as gallant and mighty as ever.

"How's the view, young Midoriya? Ever been on a plane before?"

"It's amazing, sir. It's my first time flying anywhere. How did you ever get an VIP invitation to I-Island, let alone two tickets?"

He gave a good natured chuckle. "Sometimes it pays to be the number one hero in the business. Besides, I haven't seen David myself in a long time, so it was about time for a visit anyways. I just thought a young man like you would appreciate a chance to go to I-Island. Take it as my way of expressing gratitude for what you did."

"Oh, it was nothing, sir. Anyone would've done what I did."

"Don't sell yourself short, my child. It takes a brave soul to be able to stand up to someone who's threatening your life."

"T-Thank you, sir."

"I must say, whoever trained you did an excellent job. They should be proud of what you've become. Which hero academy did you say you were attending?"

"S-sir?" I was confused. Did All Might think I was a student in a hero academy?

"I'm planning on attending UA in the fall."

All Might froze.

"How old did you say you were, young Midoriya?"

"Fourteen."

His mouth gaped wide open. He scanned me up and down quickly, as if in disbelief.

"I apologize, young man, I thought you were someone in your last year of hero academy from how you carried yourself before. You look like… well. Forgive my assumptions." All Might sheepishly rubbed the back of his head.

"It's alright, I often get mistaken for being older than I am. It's not often you find a six feet tall teenager in Japan. It's hard to find clothing that fits your size." I joked.

All Might nodded his head seriously in agreement. He made to say something, but stiffened. He coughed awkwardly into his hands, and said, "I'm sorry to cut our conversation short, young Midoriya, but I feel I must excuse myself for the restroom. Please, enjoy the rest of your flight. We should be arriving soon."

Having said that, All Might dashed off in a hurry. It might have been a trick of the light, but I could have sworn that he was steaming.

Huh, I guess even top heroes have to answer the call of nature. Really humbles you, now that I think about it.

"_Attention passengers, we will begin our descent in about ten minutes. We will arrive at I-Island at two PM eastern time, and the temperature outside is 26 degrees Celsius. Thank you for flying with us, and we wish you an enjoyable stay."_

Perfect.

**Green**

Island was like nothing I expected but also everything I expected. Walking past immigration, I was treated to the sight of a large open plaza. Large, green gardens littered the sides of the plaza, and down the middle was two, large red gates. Multiple paths branched off to the sides, leading further into the city. Anywhere as far as the eye could see was large, glass-paned skyscrapers. Signs and video advertisements littered the surface of these buildings, bringing life and color to the city. People walking down the streets were dressed in pristine lab coats, looking like the stereotypical scientists they were.

"Welcome to I-Island!" A brunette in a white lab coat walked towards me and All Might. Her hand was up in a wave, and she wore a polite smile on her face. Upon seeing the two of us, she paused in shock. Her face contorted in surprise and glee, and she shouted,

"M-Midoriya Izuku?"

Eh? Why was she calling my name? Her outburst garnered the attention of nearby scientists, who all began muttering amongst themselves excitedly, "Midoriya Izuku? That Midoriya?"

Someone in the crowd shouted, "It's really him!" which triggered everyone to rush over to me.

"Wh-what the heck is going on?" Everything was a confusing jumble. People wanted to shake my hands, to take pictures with me, ask for my autograph. One bold woman even propositioned me to be her boyfriend. I was nonplussed at the attention I was receiving. This sort of reception seemed like it should be reserved for someone like All Might, who was left, ignored, to the side. He seemed to be as bewildered as I was, his mouth hanging wide.

One young boy, who I had just given my autograph to, turned and saw All Might standing there awkwardly. He maneuvered himself out of the crowd and looked at the Number One Hero. Seeming to struggle internally for a little bit, the boy eventually pulled out his notebook and a pen, and offered them to All Might, "Here, you can sign them if you want." His eyes were full of pity and compassion.

All Might, with shaky hands, reached down and gave the boy his autograph. Having done a good deed for the day, the young boy patted All Might's knee in compassion, then ran off with his two prizes.

Eventually, the crowd became too much to handle, and so All Might and I made a mad dash out of there, stopping only when we could no longer hear the crown behind us.

"Young Midoriya, you continue to baffle my every expectation. I've got to say, ever since I became a top hero, I've never had that kind of thing happen before."

"That seemed like a disproportionate reception for someone like me." I agreed.

"Indeed," All Might affixed me with a curious stare, "who exactly are you, Izuku Midoriya?"

"Me? I'm a nobody." That didn't sound suspicious at ALL. Way to go, Izuku.

"Hmm." All Might didn't look convinced, but he let it go, thankfully. I didn't know what I would have said if he decided to press further.

I WAS a nobody. Wasn't I?

_Boing. Boing. Boing._

The sound of a spring suddenly garnered our attention.

I turned my head in the direction of the sound, and witnessed a blonde woman riding a red pogo stick, bouncing towards our direction. Blonde tresses fell over a red cardigan top, and verdant eyes peeked over stylish round glasses.

"Uncle Might!" She called in exuberance.

Uncle Might? All Might had a nephew?

"Melissa!" All Might seemed equally as delighted to see her. She pounced off her pogo stick and leapt into his embrace, giggling like a child.

"Long time no see, Melissa! I almost didn't recognize you!"

"Hehe, I'm seventeen now, Uncle Might! Aren't I a little bit heavier?"

"Never, my dear! You're still the same darling child I used to carry in my arms!"

They laughed, and All Might set her down gently.

"Where's Dave, that old rascal?" All Might boomed.

"Papa's in his lab, waiting for you. He couldn't come get you himself, so he sent me instead. It looks like he was finishing the last stage of some research he began years ago. You're just in time to see it."

"I see. What was the research about?"

"Confidential. He wouldn't even tell me."

"That damned Dave, keeping things from his daughter like that. I'll be sure to give him a talking to for you."

"That's right! You tell him, Uncle!" Melissa pouted in faux anger.

They finally seemed to remember the presence of a third person, and turned their attention to me. All Might grinning apologetically. I had been following the exchange in fascination, and seeing that their reunion seemed to be mostly over, I held out my hand in greeting to the blonde," Hey there, I'm Midoriya Izuku. You can call me Izuku, if you like."

She grabbed my hands and shook it. Her hands were small and dainty, easily engulfed by my hands in comparison. "Melissa Shield, call me Melissa or Mel. It's nice to be able to put a face to the name, Izuku."

A face to the name?

"You've heard of me, then?"

"I think there's not a single soul on this island who hasn't."

All Might cut into the conversation at this point.

"My dear Melissa, I am curious about that. The people on this island seemed unusually receptive to young Midoriya here. I hadn't realized that word of his deeds had spread this far this quickly."

Melissa blinked in confusion.

"His deeds? You mean you don't know?"

"Know what?" All Might and I echoed in confusion.

Melissa giggled.

"Figures you would bring the one person every scientist on the island wants to meet here entirely by accident, Uncle Might. Did you really not know Izuku here's moniker?"

"His moniker?"

"Quirk-less wonder," She smiled, and glanced at me from the corner of her eyes, "isn't that right?"

I gave a bashful smile to All Might.

**Green**

"Young Midoriya, allow me introduce you to my best friend, David Sh–"

"I know who he is!" I couldn't help but burst out. All Might and the Professor both seemed taken aback at my outburst. We were standing in one of the research towers located in central I-Island.

"Professor David Shield! A top scientist in Quirk research who received a Nobel Quirk Prize! All Might's partner in America! He's designed your costumes, all the way from Young Age to Golden Age! I never thought I'd be able to meet him in person!" It was hard to keep the fanboy out of my voice

The Professor, a gentle man in his early 40s, with a head full of brown hair and a brown goatee, simply laughed in good humor, "Well, it doesn't seem like I need to introduce myself. It's nice to meet you too, Izuku Midoriya."

All Might watched the exchange with his patron grin, but suddenly gave two short coughs. He covered his mouth with his hands, and muttered a quick, "Excuse me!" but the action was noticed by everyone in the room. David Shield looked concerned for a moment, but he quickly schooled his features.

"I haven't seen All Might in a long time. Why don't you guys let us catch up a little? Melissa, how about you show Midoriya here what you've been working on lately?"

The blonde, bubbly girl smiled, "I'd be honored to. Follow me, Izuku."

I gave a short bow to Professor Shield and All Might, then turned around to follow Melissa.

As the mechanical doors closed behind me, I heard the Professor say to his assistant, "Sam, you leave us too. Take a break."

**Green**

**All Might**

As soon as the door closed, I relaxed my tense body. Hacking coughs tore through my lungs as I immediately relapsed into my normal form.

Dave was immediately by my side, "Toshi, are you alright?"

I waved him off dismissively. "Yeah, I'm fine. I was just approaching my limit for the day, is all."

He watched me worriedly, "Are you sure you'll be alright to attend the party tonight? I can tell them you couldn't make it, you don't have to push yourself–"

"It's fine, Dave. I promised you I would make a speech, didn't I? Besides, I just need to rest a little bit, and my muscle form will be good to go for tonight. I promise."

Dave seemed a little unconvinced, but he let it go with a sigh. "You're as headstrong as ever, Toshi."

I laughed. "Wouldn't be me if I wasn't."

He and I both smiled fondly, reminiscing on past memories.

"By the way, how did you come across the 'Quirk-less Wonder'?" Dave questioned.

I sighed, "Completely by accident. I was hoping you could tell me more, actually. I've been so confused since stepping on this island."

Dave gave a slight smile, "Yes, I saw what happened at the entrance at I-Island."

I turned to him, incredulously, " You saw that? How?"

He shrugged, " There's not much that goes on in I-Island I don't see."

He turned around and spoke to thin air, "Pull up the medical files on Subject XR093T, please."

"_At once, sir."_ Came the mechanical reply.

The room dimmed, and a holographic display popped up in the middle of the room. Dave approached it and read off the file, "We first discovered his case about a decade ago. The boy suddenly passed out, freaked out his mother. She sent him to the hospital to get a check-up, which was how we discovered the existence of a second heart in his chest cavity."

I remained silent, and merely listened. A second heart was unusual, but there were stranger quirks out there.

Dave continued, "Over the next few weeks the doctors monitored him, only to discover something strange. The quirk metagene was inactive within the boy, meaning that his second heart was not a result of a quirk, but something else. Obviously, this raised questions about the nature of Quirks. We had always assumed that quirks were simply the next evolutionary step for humans, but Izuku is living proof that this isn't the case."

I nodded, following along.

"Needless to say, we kept a close eye on him over the next few years. This is what we found." Dave pulled out a holographic file, gesturing for me to come closer.

"A secondary heart, to pump more blood in his systems. A third lung, seen in this chart here. A second pituitary gland, to increase his growth rate to superhuman levels. His ribcage has fused together into a solid-mass of interlaced bone plates. His skeleto-musular strength is at twenty-times the norm compared to the average human. His blood was measured to carry more than three times the amount of oxygen in a normal human blood cell. Incredibly sensitive ears and eyes. We've tested him to be able to clearly see up to five kilometers in the dark. He has a second stomach that neutralizes poison. A second kidney, too. His nose and tongue have a similar fidelity to a canine's, allowing him to identify extremely subtle odors and track someone by smell alone. Small glands located in his mouth produce acid. We've also identified a second epidermis layer underneath his skin, which darkens upon UV stimuli. His sinews are naturally reinforced with an unknown organic metal that provide an addition source of defense for the body and give him further enhanced strength. To top it off, his natural recoverability is off the charts."

I was beginning to grow dizzy with the amount of information thrown at me.

Dave looked at me with a side eye, looking extremely serious, "In conclusion, superhuman durability, strength, senses, and regeneration. He is highly resistant to all forms of poison, as well as radiation. He has two hearts, to pump blood through his systems at a higher rate. The kicker? Still no sign of the Quirk metagene."

My mouth gaped open, "That's… impossible,"

Dave shook his head, "It's true. There are still plenty of other organs and functions we haven't been able to determine yet."

He looked at the holographic file floating in front of him.

"It's almost as if nature _intended_ for him to become a weapon."

**AN: There you go. Second chapter done. R&R.**


	3. Chapter 3: I-Island Continued

Chapter 3: I-Island Continued

**Melissa**

"Where are we going?"

"My research lab."

I couldn't help but steal glances at my charge as we walked. Right now, we were walking through the familiar halls of I-Academy, the place at which I was currently a student of. Izuku was glancing around in excitement, his unabashed enthusiasm infectious. His spiky green hair framed his forehead in a mopey, disordered look, and below that, twinkling, cheerful pools of green were currently darting around the hallways, taking in the sights with interest. His gait was languid but confident, and I couldn't help but mentally compare him to a powerful predator prowling through his backyard.

My gaze involuntarily travelled a bit lower, and what I saw…_ Oh my._

I averted my eyes frantically. My cheeks began to warm, and my heart rate increased slightly. Who would've thought that the Quirk-less Wonder, the reason why I decided to pick up a second Concentration in biology, could look so… _delectable._

Walking here next to him made me feel extremely self-conscious. I was never one to really notice other peoples apparel, but for god's sake, did his shirt have to be so… tight? My eyes could easily trace the outline of his muscles through the thin fabric layer. Around me, I could feel whispers and stares, especially from my female schoolmates, like pins and needles. I could already imagine the salacious rumors circling around the academy.

Somehow that didn't bother me that much.

"We're here," I announced, stepping into a unmarked room. As Izuku stepped in, I surreptitiously _locked_ the door and turned the light outside the door red. That would indicate to anyone that there was a delicate experiment going on inside the room that _could not be disturbed_.

"Wow," Izuku breathed, eyes shining," This looks so… professional." He was like a little kid who was brought to the toy store. He darted back and forth around the room, gushing over each piece of scientific equipment and chattering a mile a minute.

I giggled at his antics. "I'm glad you like it. Here, let me show you something cool."

I punched in some commands on my computer, causing an entire section of the wall to turn over, revealing my past projects, supported on individual racks. There were power gloves, rocket boots, helmets, watches, and other miscellaneous support items. I had made a lot over the years.

"These are all experimental support items I made myself. They've not been field-tested yet, but the products themselves are complete."

Izuku seemed like he was vibrating in excitement.

"Uh, are you alright there, Izuku?"

"That… IS SO COOL! I can't believe how amazing you are, Mel! You must be so talented!"

"Oh, uh," I raised a hand to my face to hide the blush that lit up my face at his compliment, "it's no big deal."

I finished with a small bashful voice, hand involuntarily tucking a strand of hair behind my ears. My cheeks were definitely warm now. I hope he doesn't notice. _What's happening to you, Melissa?_

"So what do they do?"

"Oh uh, this one provides addition boosts to the power of…"

I spent the most part of the afternoon explaining my products to him. If I had to stand really close to him to do it, then that was because I wanted to better explain my products. If our arms and elbows occasionally touched due to our proximity, then that was because I was reaching over to demonstrate a particular effect. Really, it was just for convenience' sake.

_Oh, dear. I'm in trouble. I think I like this boy._

**Green**

**Izuku**

I was having so much fun talking to Melissa that I completely lost track of the time. When I glanced up at the digital clock whilst in the middle of an animated conversation with her, I saw that the clock read 7:12pm.

I froze. _Had I really spent an entire afternoon with this girl already?_

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"Nothing," I gulped, "but wasn't there a party or something we were supposed to attend tonight?"

"Yeah, but don't worry. We still have a lot of time to–" Her words cut off abruptly as she glanced at the clock. "It's already started ten minutes ago. We're already late."

"WHAT?"

"Oh dear, oh my gosh, I have to get dressed immediately, and do my makeup, and my hair, what do I do…" Melissa started to panic, " But my house is on the other side of town, and it'll take too long to go there and get back to I-Tower."

"Melissa, calm down–"

"Dad's going to kill me! This is his big night, to announce the secret project he's been working on–"

"Melissa–"

"I was supposed to be there! I can't believe how stupid–"

I sighed. This wasn't going to work, she was in full panic mode right now.

_Guess there's only one option left._

I reached out and gently grabbed ahold of Melissa by the shoulders, stopping her from her panicked pacing. It didn't take much to stop her, and she looked at me with a frantic, lost gaze. I moved up my hands upwards to cup her face gently, giving her my most calming smile.

"Wha–?"

She seemed to have turned to stone, her body rigid, her wide eyes locked into mine.

_This is what Mom used to do to get me to calm down. Grab by the shoulders, lock our gazes, and lean in…_

"Melissa," I breathed, "calm down and think."

She stared at me wide-eyed. Her mouth opened and closed, like a goldfish, before she managed to croak out, "T-too close."

I gave her a searching look before retreating. Melissa pulled away from me quickly, bringing one hand up from where it had previously been resting at her sides to hold her elbow. Her face was pink and flush, and her gaze wandered around the room without making contact with mine.

"What are our options?" I asked her patiently, "You know this place the best."

She took a few seconds to gather herself, and said contemplatively, "Well, I do have a 3D printing machine right here in the lab. I could probably print out an outfit for me right here. And for you too, since you're here."

"Are you sure? I mean–"

She waved off my concerns. "It'll be alright. As long as no one finds out." She winked at me.

"Okay. Well, how long does this take?"

She considered a little bit. " A minute or two, maybe?"

"That's," I choked a little bit, "fast."

"This IS the technological paradise of the modern world we're talking about."

Oh, right. I-Island. Forgive my plebeian mindset, then.

Melissa rushed over to her computer, and said, "Well, let me get the process started then. It should be done in about three minutes."

I watched the entire process in silent amazement. I couldn't help but be impressed with the blonde girl beside me. She only seemed a year or two older than I am, but could already do something like this. Meanwhile, all I could do was punch things really hard.

"There, it's done." She turned around with the two finished products after a few minutes of waiting. "This should fit you."

In her hands were two pieces of clothing. On her left, a suit with a mossy green jacket and pants, coupled with a white undershirt and a black tie. On her right, a similarly colored full-length dress, with a slit up the side of the thighs and an open back. I recognized it as a wrap dress.

"Matching colors?" I queried, raising one eyebrow.

She threw me a provocative smirk. "Why, afraid to be seen in public with me?"

I had no response to that beyond a minute shrug. I grabbed the offered apparel from her, and… nothing.

We just kind of stood there, staring at each other, as a major problem about the situation began to dawn on us. Where the hell do we change?

"Um," I awkwardly coughed, "where–"

I didn't even know how to phrase the question. There obviously was no place to change here.

"–is the nearest restroom? So I could change there?"  
Melissa made to answer reflexively, but seemed to bite down at her words at the last second.

"It's– _Hrmph, _actually, because this is the R&D area, the closest bathroom is really far away. Besides, we're already late and it'll take too much time to walk there. So–" Her voice got smaller at this point," we're going to have to… change in here."

I stared at her in slight suspicion. Really, there were _no_ bathrooms _anywhere_ on the floor? I don't buy it. Melissa wouldn't meet my gaze, which only strengthened my skepticism.

"Hurry up, Izuku. Don't want to be later than we already are."

_I'm a guy, you know_, I wanted to say. Normally, this was a situation I would be jumping for joy in. A beautiful girl like Melissa asking me to change with her? I'd be insane to say no.

However, this was David Shield's daughter. I couldn't possibly… _profane_ someone like her. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like I'll have a choice in the matter. Melissa had already started to take off her pants, it seemed.

I hurried turned around to avoid seeing anything I shouldn't. After a brief moment of hesitation, I gathered up my courage and started to take my shirt off. _Be quick and efficient,_ I chanted in my head, _quick and efficient. Don't think about what's going on behind you._

I quickly stripped down to my undergarments and began to put the clothes Melissa printed out on. _Huh, this fits perfectly._ She must have a really good eye for measurements. That'd be really useful in a support hero.

At some point the shuffling behind me stopped. I took that as evidence that Melissa was done changing too, so I turned around. Bad idea. Or great idea, depending on how you look at it.

Melissa was topless, in just her panties. _Black?_ I gave a tiny yelp, "W-Why are you topless?" I couldn't turn my eyes away. Her breasts were just… hanging there. Looked to be a D-cup, easily.

"This is a backless dress, of course I have to be topless to wear it," she gave me a half-lidded smile, "and why aren't you turning your eyes away, mister?"

"Why aren't you covering up?" I shot back.

"I don't have anything embarrassing to hide. Why _should_ I cover up?"

I couldn't say anything in return. There was something twisted about her logic, but for the life of me I couldn't think with my brain so sluggish right now, so I kept my mouth shut. And my eyes wide open, of course. Opportunities like this came once in a lifetime, and I'd be damned if I didn't burn this sight into my mind.

Melissa gave me an erotic smirk, and, whilst maintaining eye contact, bent down and stepped into the dress. She pulled up the dress up to her waist and stopped there, leaving her top still bare.

"Why don't you come over here and help me?" She asked, "I need someone to tie up the back." Having said that, she turned around and lifted up her hair, waiting.

As I walked closer, I could smell… excitement and arousal wafting off her. Curse my sensitive nose, sometimes.

I approached nervously, stopping once I was directly behind her. I took a breath, to steady my nerves. "What do I do?" I questioned in a low voice. My breath must have tickled her ears, because I could see goosebumps and tingles immediately appear on the back of her neck. Melissa hummed, and tilted her head backwards a little bit so she could stare me in the eyes. She smiled at me, eyes glittering mysteriously, but said nothing. Her body posture remained open and relaxed, indicating I should figure it out for myself. I took a deep breath, held it, and let it go.

_Fine, you want to play like this, you got it._

I reached down to the sides of her dress, pulling up two pieces of fabric extending from the sides. _These were probably meant to cover her… assets._ I brought them up to cover Melissa's breasts, over her chest until it reached her neck. The back of my thumb ghosted over two hard nubs. I was nervous she might say turn around to slap me, but she remained still.

I paused here, uncertain. There were no strings I could see to tie the two strips of fabric together.

"Just press the ends together," her amused voice rang out, "it'll weld."

Yes, weld they did. Huh, that's technology for you, I guess.

Melissa turned around and purred, "Thank you, _Izu_." Her pet name for me made my spine tingle warmly. Both my hearts pumped loudly in my chest.

"Now, let's get going."

"Wait!" I stopped her. "Don't you need your glasses?" I was referring to the pair of round glasses she left on a desk while changing.

"Oh I have perfect vision, don't worry. Those glasses are… well. Perhaps you'll find out in the future." She gave me a coquettish wink, and pressed a button on the wall. The doors to the lab _clicked,_ then slide open with a hiss.

She walked outside, swaying her hips a little bit, before turning to look over her shoulder, "You following?"

Wow, she knew exactly what she was doing. Speechlessly, I followed her out.

_When did she lock the doors?_

**Green**

**All Might**

I grunted as my bound form hit the ground. _How did things end up like this? I was careless._

Who could have imagined a villain attack in I-Island of all places, the once place with security measures comparable to Tartarus itself? No one. _But I still should've had my guard up. And now they've taken Dave._

About fifteen minutes ago, villains suddenly burst into the ballroom where Dave was hosting his party. All attending members of the party were caught off guard, including me, and I couldn't take action once they revealed that they've the entire island under hostage.

Which led to my current predicament, bound and immobile due to the restraining strips installed in the ground, helplessly watching as the villains brought Dave and his assistant Sam somewhere up the tower.

I glared at the red-haired man, who seemed to be the leader, "You'll pay for this." I growled.

All I got in response was a sneer, "Number one hero, eh? You're not so tough now. Soon, the name Wolfram will spread through the world as the villain who brought down All Might. As soon as I get what I want."

"And what's your purpose?" I questioned, latching onto whatever hints he gave, "why do all of this? What do you gain?"

Wolfram merely snorted, "If you think I'd just blabber my entire plan to you here, you're mistaken. I'm not the type to make that kind of low-level mistake." He walked away smugly, gesturing to his men.

"Keep this man under watch, I don't care that he's bound. He's still the number one hero. If he moves, shoot someone here. He may be invulnerable to guns, but the people here aren't."

I grit my teeth in frustration. _How despicable,_ I thought, _holding the people here as hostage to prevent me from taking action._

Not for the first time, I cursed myself for my uselessness.

_Melissa, Young Midoriya, please be safe._

**Green**

**Izuku**

"Something's wrong." I said, grabbing Melissa by the wrist.

She glanced at me in surprise, having just been about to open the ballroom doors.

"What is it?"

"It's too quiet. Have you seen anyone on our way here?"

"Now that you mention it, it _is_ strange that the receptionist isn't there. Or the patrolling guards, either." She conceded, but shrugged her shoulders.

"I'm sure it's nothing. They might be on a water break or something."

She moved to open the door. I let go of her hand, thinking that I might be being too paranoid. _She knows this place a lot better than I do. If she says nothing's wrong, nothing's probably wrong._

However, the instant the door opened a fraction, I caught a whiff of something that instantly made my blood chill. The waft of blood, fear, and anxiety entered my nose, and the hairs on my neck began to tingle.

"Melissa," I said sharply, "wait."

She flinched at my harsh tone.

"Something's definitely wrong. I smell blood." I warned.

Melissa looked worried now. Her hand paused uncertainly, leaving the door ajar by fraction.

"Wh–" she made to speak, but I cut her off with a hand gesture. _Shh, _I mimed.

We listened at the door.

"_Hey, is that door supposed to be open like that?"_

_ "No, I don't think so. Nobu, go check it out."_

_ "Che, why can't you make Daigo do it? He's closer."_

_ "Don't make me repeat myself. Do it."_

_Shit, _I thought, _they're coming over._ Melissa seemed to have realized her mistake, judging by her pale face. She looked at me frantically for instructions. I held out an open palm, signalling for her to wait.

_Okay, at least three villains inside, possibly more. Possible injured civilians. One is heading over right now to investigate. I could probably take him out quickly with a well placed punch._

The footsteps from inside drew closer. My sensitive ears could pick them out easily, despite the thick carpet covering the floor.

From my position crouched behind the frame of the door, I could barely peek into the gap left my Melissa's gap.

I made eye contact with the pale faced girl._ When I say go, let go,_ I mouthed. She nodded.

Seconds ticked by like hours, until finally, I saw a webbed hand grab the door handle from the other side. _Go!_

Melissa let go of the handle she had been holding and leapt back. The villain, unaware of the girl behind the door, pushed it open, gun point held cautiously outwards. Too bad it wouldn't help him.

With a blindingly fast punch, I struck the villain with my fist, striking him in the throat, crushing it instantly. I grimaced a bit, _didn't mean to do that,_ but caught the body before it slumped, holding it upright.

_The gun! _I forgot about the gun. Seeing that the weapon was about to slip from the villain's webbed hands and clatter onto the ground noisily, Melissa managed to catch it just in time. We both held our breaths.

_Don't notice anything, don't notice anything._

"_Hey Nobu, what's taking so long? Get back here if it's nothing. I don't feel safe watching All Might with anything less than three people."_

All Might? He was in there? He must be confined in some way.

_There's a confirmed amount of villains in there now. They're probably all armed with guns like this one, and there's no telling what kind of quirk they possess._

"_Nobu? Why aren't you answering?" _

_I suppose there's no time to think. We just got to take out the other two before they can react._

"Melissa, provide cover fire." I whispered, "I'm going in."

"R-right." She shakily nodded, "I got you."

I gave her my most reassuring smile, "Don't worry," All Might's catchphrase ringing in my mind, "I am here."

Melissa said nothing, but here trembling lips firmed into a determined line. "I'll protect your back," she promised, "do what you have to."

Nodding at her, I took a deep breath. _Here we go_.

I burst into the room, using the body of 'Nobu' as cover. I took a moment to take in everything. Scientists in lab coats and some well-dressed civilians were huddled in a corner, while two men in black, military fatigues stood guard over a prone form. One man was tall, and had a round head that appeared to merge into his thick neck with little distinction. The other had shoulder-length hair of a desaturated pink color that flared outwards to the sides, and a curved tattoo beneath his eyes that went down his cheeks. with shorter bangs between and to the sides of his eyesI recognized All Might on the ground instantly. He seemed to be bound in some sort of glowing, electrical tape.

"What the–" the man with the round head flinched, "who are you?"

I didn't reply, and instead started to charge them. Don't give them time to think.

"Holy shi– he's fast! Daigo, don't just stand there, shoot him!"

"Young Midoriya?" All Might cried out in shock.

Seeing the gun nozzles pointed towards me, I placed 'Nobu's' body in front of me, like a fleshy shield. Bullets peppered into his back with tiny meaty smacks. Well, if he wasn't dead before, he was now.

Daigo and the other villain continued to fire at Nobu, until the corpse dropped onto the ground.

"What the– where'd he go?"

"Right here," I announced from the air, right before I drop-kicked Daigo in the face with soles of my feet. His nose made a cracking sound as I kicked him, sending him flying across the room and slamming into the wall. Cracks formed in the wall behind him from the force of his impact.

I had thrown Nobu's body forward as I dashed and jumped upwards. That little bit of misdirection allowed me to escape the villains' line of sight for a second, which allowed me to jump up and get the drop on Daigo.

"You little shit!" Roared the remaining villain, dropping his gun as his hands morphed into a cone-shaped sword. "You'll rue the day you decided to cross Swordkil!" He slashed at me with his swords, which I barely dodged. This guy was angry, but trained. Every slash was aimed at vital points on my body, which would cripple or kill me if I was a normal person. Unluckily for him, I wasn't.

I followed the blade swings with my eyes, and when he overextended on one lunge, I grabbed his sword-hands with my palms, stopping them in their tracks. The edges of the blade dug into my palms, severing flesh all the way to bone. The pain was immense, but nothing I couldn't handle. Seeing my actions, Swordkil sneered maliciously, "Looks like you don't want your hands anymore."

He made to withdraw his blade's from my grasp, but found that he couldn't move them. "What– how strong are you?"

I glared at him as I began to squeeze the blades. The edges dug into my hand, but my bone was a lot tougher than whatever his swords are made of. Cracks began to form on the surface of Swordkil's blades, and he screamed in agony as he was slowly forced to his knees. "My hands!" He screamed, "You're crushing my hands! How is this possible! My swords are formed from a titanium alloy!"

I ignored his screams and continued to apply pressure. Suddenly, I heard a growl behind me, causing me to glance back in worry. Daigo had apparently shaken off my kick, and had transformed into a hulking purple beast. He roared in fury, and blitzed towards me with reckless abandon. I cursed to myself, _Crap, I won't be able to dodge this. He's too close!_

As I prepared myself to be hit with stone-crushing force, a sudden _bang! Bang! Bang! _Rang through the air. The hulking purple beast ran a few more steps before slowing down, slumping forward and reverting into a human form. A red hole sprouted in the middle of his forehead, from which rivers of blood were beginning to flow. At the doorway stood Melissa, gun nozzle smoking. She lowered the weapon and gave me a wan smile, "Told you I got your back."

I returned the smile and turned my attention back to Swordkil. His swords had been distorted beyond recognition in my grasp, and he had been reduced to a whimpering, sobbing mess. I finished him off with a knee to the face, knocking him unconscious. Seeing this, Melissa ran over to me, looking at my hands in worry.

"My god, Izu! Are you alright! That was so reckless! What if you lost your hands?" Seeing her fretting over my wellbeing gave me a warm feeling in my chest, and I let her hen over me a bit more before gently disengaging myself from her grasp.

"Don't worry, Mel. See? It's already healing." I held up bloody palms out for her to see, and sure enough, my wounds were already steaming and closing up. The recovery was fast enough to be seen by the naked eye. Soon, my hands were good as new, despite the horrendous condition they were in a few seconds ago.

Melissa look at them in wonder. "I had heard the rumors," she breathed," but I didn't believe them until now. A naturally super-regenerative body, without a quirk metagene. That's unheard of."

A dry cough from behind us interrupted her musings.

"I'm glad you two are getting along, but can we do something about this binding, please?" All Might stared at the two of us with a deadpan gaze.

I could only scratch my head sheepishly.

**Green**

It took a while, but with the help of the other civilians in the room we managed to tie up Swordkil's unconscious body. You've got to hand it to scientists; they managed to tie Swordkil up in a way that even if he woke up, he wouldn't have enough leverage to cut himself out of the makeshift ropes we created from tablecloths and jackets. I doubted he would've been able to cut anything, with the state I left his blades in, but it was pretty cool to see them do it. I made a note to remember the process so I could replicate it in the future.

While they were doing this, Melissa and I were trying to find way to free All Might from his bonds. However, we were unable to do anything.

"These restraints were made to restrain quirk users," Melissa explained, "the only way we can deactivate them is from the control room."

"Where is that?" I asked worriedly.

She gave me a grim look. "The top of this tower. The control room has probably been taken over by the villains already."

"Is there no other way?" All Might asked in frustration.

"You said these were built with Quirk users in mind," I said, "how do they work?"

"Well, they suppress the quirk numbers in your body. The science would take too long to explain, but essentially they make you unable to use your quirk."

I began to feel a bubble of hope rise in my chest. "Which means that they can be broken with pure brute strength if I don't use a quirk?"

Melissa's eyes widened. "Of course!" She exclaimed, "Your body doesn't have a quirk, but it's still ultra-strong. Here," she moved aside, "give it a try."

I quickly moved up to All Might's prone body. "I'm sorry sir," I apologized, "this might be a little rough."

"It's alright, Young Midoriya," came his reply," do what you need to."

I grasped the restraints tightly and pulled. It stretched apart like a rubber band, but refused to open. I groaned and pulled with all my strength. No deal.

"I'm sorry," I gasped, "I'm not strong enough."

Beside me, Melissa bit her lips in consternation. "Even with Izu, it's not enough?"

All Might looked frustrated. "We don't have time for this. They could be anywhere by now!"

"They?" I questioned. "Who are you talking about?"

All Might flinched, and looked away in sadness.

"I'm sorry, Melissa," he whispered, "I couldn't save him."

Beside me, the blonde girl gasped as she began to notice the absence of a figure, "Uncle Might, w-where's Papa? Shouldn't he be here with you?"

All Might couldn't meet her gaze. I felt a sinking feeling in my stomach. _It couldn't possibly be… Professor Shield? They took Professor Shield?_

"Uncle Might… where is he? Where is my Papa?" Her voice was steadily increasing in panic.

"They took him," All Might gritted out, tears forming at the edges of his eyes, "they took him and all I could do was watch." Anger and despair leaked out from his voice.

Melissa collapsed onto her knees besides me. "No…" she whispered, "it can't be."

They were both breaking down. I needed to take control of this situation, fast.

"All Might," I uttered, drawing his attention, "how long ago did this happen?"

"About three minutes before you arrived," he answered, "the villain leader, Wolfram, led Dave and his assistant Sam away. They left through the elevator and went up."

"Up?" I questioned, turning to Melissa, "what's up there?"

She blinked vacant eyes at me," Um, lot's of things. This is the central tower of I-Island."

"What's most valuable?" I pressed, "What's worth attacking I-Island for?"

She scrunched her face in thought, trying to think, "Um, the control room also hides the vault that contains all the most classified research projects. That might be where they're headed."

I nodded. "Okay, the vault. Let's try there." I stood up to leave.

"Hey, wait," All Might shouted, "where do you think you're going?"

I looked over my shoulder at their forms.

"I'm going to save Professor Shield," I stated.

"It's too dangerous," All Might shook his head, "you might die. I can't let you take that risk. I forbid you."

I looked at All Might, deep into his determined, azure eyes, and saw the raw concern he had for me. It was touching. _This was the number one hero who protected everyone._

"You've done enough," he said," Saved everyone in this room already. You've performed splendidly. There's no need to risk yourself any further."

I looked around the room, at the pensive but uninjured civilians resting on chairs or on the ground. A few of them caught my gaze and smiled in gratitude. _I did save them. It's true. But…_

I looked back at All Might, and smiled.

"You might know these words, but let me say them again."

"_**Go beyond. Plus Ultra.**_"

He gazed back at me, stunned. The silence hung in the air for a few moments, before he threw his head back and laughed. Loudly, gathering the attention of everyone in the room. Melissa gazed at me with an undecipherable emotion from the side.

"Yes, of course," All Might wheezed, "how could I forget? My origin." He hung his head with a deprecating smile.

"Melissa, could you give me and Young Midoriya a moment, please?"

Melissa started in surprise. She gazed at him with a profound look, then turned to me contemplatively. Eventually, she acquiesced and gave us our space, moving a dozen or so steps away.

"Izuku, listen to me," All Might said seriously.

I nodded in concentration. _This was the first time he said my name directly._

"Pull a strand of hair from my head," he said.

_What?_

"Do it."

"O-okay." I reached out and plucked a strand of gold from atop his head.

"Do you trust me?" He asked.

"With my life."

"Then eat that strand of hair. Right now. Discreetly."

_Uh, what?_

I stared at him with absolute perplexion. "You want me to what?" I wondered if I had misheard.

"Eat it." All Might said.

"If you trust me, eat it now. Don't ask why, just do it. If you can't even trust me this much, then there's no point in going up there after Dave."

"Will this help rescue the Professor?"

He didn't say anything more, just looked at me with an unidentifiable emotion. Silently. Awaiting my answer.

The strand of hair lay there pinched between my fingers. _Here goes nothing._

I swallowed it. Looked back at All Might, who gazed into my eyes intensely, seemingly searching for something.

Reflected from within his abruptly _glowing _blue eyes, I saw a pair _glowing_ green eyes staring back at me. All Might gave a smile that was all teeth.

"_It's done."_

**AN: How do others do this? This is exhausting :). As always, R&R. I read reviews and they give me tons of feedback. Some of you have asked about the kind of Marine Midoriya is. All he has is the physique of one. He's probably closest to a primarch right now. I can tell you that this is the extent of WH influence in this story.**


	4. Chapter 4: Hero of I-Island

Chapter 4: Hero of I-Island

**Green**

**Wolfram**

_So close,_ I thought, _just a few more minutes and I can get the hell out of here._ I examined my prize, currently held within my hands. It was a delicate piece of machinery, looking like a thin metal crown, meant to wrap around the temple. _Hard to believe such a tiny thing could amplify quirks._

As expected of the number one genius inventor David Shield, who was currently trailing behind me, clutching his injured shoulder. He had jumped into the way of the bullet that was meant for his traitorous assistant. A sentimental move, but ultimately foolish. The assistant still died, after all.

"Where… are we going? You already have what you want."

"To meet my _real_ employer, of course."

"Your real employer? Who?"

"Ah, not so fast," I wagged my fingers, "I won't be telling you anything until I'm sure we're secure. I'm not like the other second rate villains who let down their guard at the last moment."

I put a finger on my earpiece, activating it, "Hey, is the ride ready?"

"_She's been ready all night, boss. Just waiting on you."_

"Good. We'll be there in a minute. Get ready for takeoff."

"_What about the others, sir?"_

"What about them?" They were just pawns, in the end. Nothing consequential, and definitely not needed after tonight's operation.

The was silence of the radio for a little bit, before the other side responded.

"_…Roger that, sir. Over."_

I looked over my shoulder at the limping professor. He seemed to be favoring his left leg, plodding along with a limping gait. His right arm was still holding onto his left shoulder.

I frowned at this sight.

"What's wrong with your leg?"

He blinked.

"What?"

"I said, what's wrong with your leg? I shot you in the shoulders."

"Uh, nothing really." He straightened sheepishly.

"Walk normally, then. Fucking weirdo."

He coughed awkwardly, and started to follow me normally, albeit reluctantly.

"I'm warning you now, Professor, don't try anything. This is the last stretch, and if anything can go wrong, it'd be now. My alertness is on a hundred twenty percent. You try anything funny, the whole island goes down. Understood?"

A quickly muttered 'yes' from the brown-haired scientist.

_ Good._

We eventually emerged from within the I-Tower to the rooftop, upon which a helicopter was already prepped and ready for takeoff. I grabbed the doctor by the scruff of his shirt and began dragging him over to the aircraft, keeping a close eye on him the entire time. If he was going to stage an escape, now would be the opportune time. Fortunately, he seemed relatively docile, and obediently got into the aircraft without much resistance. Everything was going smoothly. Yet, there was a certain sense of unease that I couldn't shake off. This op had been almost _too_ successful. _Too_ smooth. I had purposefully cut off radio communications with my men downstairs because I had been planning on abandoning them in the first place, but now I wondered if that had been a good idea. I had no clue what was going on downstairs. _What if All Might had gotten free?_

Unlikely, but this was the world's best hero we're talking about. Doing the impossible is a staple for someone like him. _If that's the case, then there's even less reason to dally around here._

"Lift off," I gave the order. I won't feel safe until I'm in the air. I patted my pockets just in case. _Machine's still there._

The helicopter began to lift off from the landing pad slowly. I glanced at the entrance from I-Tower suspiciously, waiting for the other boot to drop. Nothing.

The aircraft successfully launched into the air, and I let go of the tenseness in my shoulder.

"Another job well done," I congratulated myself, closing my eyes in relief.

Just in time to miss a green blur fly towards me from _outside _I-Tower.

The last thing I heard before everything exploded was.

"_Delaware SMASH!"_

Here comes the boot.

**Green**

**Izuku**

The wind whipped past my face as I approached the escaping aircraft at incredible velocities. Power, unadulterated and wild, coursed through my body like green lightning. I felt like every single cell in my body was being supercharged, like I could cause earthquakes with my steps and produce hurricanes with my breath. Was this what All Might felt like all the time? No wonder he was the number one hero.

_Stay focused, Izuku._

I still had one more job to do. Save Professor Shield. Then go back and ask All Might what he meant by his power being transferable.

I quickly approached the flying vehicle, homing towards it like a heat-seeking missile. The only reason I was able to do this was because I jumped from the ground outside I-Tower, rapidly clearing a height over two hundred stories tall to get to the villains in time. Otherwise, there was no way I'd be able to catch up by using the elevators. I could see the Doctor's form in the helicopter. He seemed injured, but alive, which eased my mind a little.

_ Alright, I'll only have one shot at this._

The villain, who I assumed was the Wolfram All Might mentioned, had his eyes closed, luckily. Which meant he didn't see my rapidly approaching body from beneath the aircraft. As I came up to them, I swung my hand backwards, creating a powerful gale that changed my direction mid-air, shooting me towards the doctor.

The helicopter had open sides, which I used to fly into the craft, and wrapping my arms around his body. At the same, I kicked my legs out in an arc, producing a wave of force that hit Wolfram and the pilot, sending them both crashing into the controls.

As the professor and I shot out of the helicopter, a loud boom materialized behind me. The aircraft must have exploded. My current trajectory aimed our bodies towards the rooftop helipad, which suited my purposes just fine. Landing lightly, I observed the man in my arms with concern. The concussive wave from the blast seemed to have knocked him out, but he was still breathing.

"T-Toshi…?"he mumbled incoherently, before his head sagged to the side and his body slumped like a ragdoll.

I gave a silent sigh of relief. At least it seemed like he was alive for now. I lay his prone form against a wall gently, before turning my gaze around to the helicopter wreckage. My ears were detecting a faint heartbeat from within the debris.

_One of them's still alive._

Sure enough, from within the wreckage a pillar of metal formed from the debris shot towards be. I easily shattered it with one fist, thanks to my new power. A groaning, bloody man emerged amidst the flames.

"I fucking knew it," he swore, "nothing ever goes this smoothly without some dumb hero to fuck it up."

His clothes were ragged, but he seemed mostly uninjured.

"And who the fuck are you supposed to be?" He asked.

"My name is Midoriya Izuku," I responded, " Remember it as the one who put you down."

All I got in response to that was a scoff. "You may be powerful, but I've been gifted with power too."

He grinned, and pulled out an unidentifiable piece of metal from with his jacket. It looked like a crown or tiara of some kind. Wolfram placed it around his head, and immediately his skin began to turn red. His muscles bulged, ripping through his clothes, as debris from the wreckage began to rise around him. They formed a metallic construct around his lower body, raising him up so that he towered high above me and so only his torso was visible. Iron pipes coiled like serpents around him, looking like some demented metallic Lovecraftian horror monster. Wolfram pointed at the Professor, who was unconscious against the wall behind me, causing a few of the serpentine coils to shoot towards him. Those I disintegrated with a well-timed punch, the force of my blows enough to reduce them to fine dust.

"Che," Wolfram sneered, "How annoying. He told me that All Might was weaker than before, but nothing about another person with similar powers."

"He? Who's he?" I questioned.

"Hmph, no one you need to worry about. If I were you, I'd worry about trying to stay alive for now."

I merely grinned at him, "Right back at you."

He roared in anger, and slammed his hands into the tower beneath him, causing four metallic pillars and tentacles to shoot towards me at bullet speed. Each pillar was wider than my entire body.

They looked to pierce me where I stood, but I shot forward with a sonic boom, dodging their strike. Wolfram sent more and more pillars at me, but most of them I dodged with ease and the rest I shattered with a swing of my arms.

"Surrender," I said," There's nothing you can do against me."

"Shut up," he growled, "I'll show you my power."

With an almighty groan, he thrust both his palms out, facing upwards, and began to raise them. Mirroring his motions, the entire tower glowed purple as the tower itself seemed to rise up per his actions. The sudden shift almost caused me to lose my footing, but I was able to catch myself in time.

_If this continues, he'll destroy the tower and everyone within._

I thought of Melissa and All Might, as well as the rest of the civilians, still inside the tower.

_I can't let them die._

I lowered myself into a sprinter's stance, and concentrated.

_ Let's try out this power All Might's given me._

Red lines of energy spread across my body, ripping the suit Melissa made me and leaving my torso bare. Green tendrils of lightning shot out of the corner of my eyes like angry snakes, dissipating into thin air.

I glared at Wolfram, who was still lifting up the rooftop.

"One for All: 100%!"

I disappeared from my spot and rematerialized in front of Wolfram, fist cocked back. His grey eyes saucered, and he lurched backwards in shock. Too late, though.

I gave him a savage grin.

_**Squeeze your buttocks, and yell this inside your heart–!**_All Might's words rang out clearly in my head.

"**SMASH!"**

My fist impacted his face like a warhead, pulverizing both him and his metallic construct. Wolfram crashed through his self-made construct, shooting into the ground with enough force to create a crater. All of I-Tower shook from the force of my punch, but the foundations were, luckily, strong enough to withstand the impact.

I deactivated One for All and allowed myself to land gently on the rooftop, next to Wolfram's unconscious body. I inspected him cautiously.

_Unconscious and half-dead, but still alive,_ I concluded.

_Wouldn't be waking up any soon though._

**Green**

I jumped down from the rooftop all the way to the ground level, carrying the two currently lifeless bodies with me. I had to occasionally use my feet to generate gusts of wind to break my descent, otherwise the whiplash might kill Professor Shield. I don't care much about the villain, but he was more useful alive than dead and I had already caused the death of at least three others tonight. I didn't want to kill any more if I didn't have to. I had pushed the gravity of my actions aside due to the emergency, but now that everything was over I began to feel slightly nauseous about what I did.

Landing on the ground safely, I was greeted by a distraught Melissa and All Might, who had been finally been set free.

"Izuku, you're finally here! Is my father safe?" Melissa rushed over to me worriedly.

I showed her his unconscious body," He needs immediate medical attention, but he's still alive. Has the island's defenses been brought back under our control yet?"

"Yeah, that's what I went to do immediately after you left. The control room was empty, except for…" she choked a bit, "the body of Uncle Sam."

Uncle Sam?

"My father's assistant." She clarified with teary eyes.

"I'm sorry," I consoled, "I'm sure he's in a better place now."

"Young Midoriya," All Might clapped his large hands on my shoulders, "well done. Very well done. You have surpassed any and all expectations this evening, saving not only myself and Dave, but the population of the entire I-Island. We all surely would have perished if not for your intervention. For that, you have my eternal gratitude."

I blushed at his praise.

"T-thanks, All Might. I just did what I felt I had to do."

He nodded, then turned to Melissa, who had been watching our interaction from the side.

"My dear girl, go and get someone to come help your father. Midoriya and I will carry him inside while you do so."

"Oh, right," she patted her fathers hand, "I'll be right back with help for you, Papa. Just hold on." She dashed inside urgently.

"After this is all over," All Might whispered as he picked up David Shield's body bridal style, "come find me. You and I need to talk alone."

His azure eyes glowed seriously.

**Green**

The immediate aftermath cleanup took all the way till morning. Wolfram was taken away in a quirk containment cell by the police. Professor Shield was sent off to the emergency rooms for treatment immediately, Melissa following along. She gave me an appreciative but apologetic look as she hurried away. I gave her a nod to say I understood. Family came first, after all. She still wrapped her hands around my neck and gave a tight squeeze, which I returned with much enthusiasm.

"Thank you for saving my father," she whispered into my ears," and for saving me."

Pulling away slightly, she trailed her hands down to rest on my chest, winking, " And put some clothes on before I lose control, got it?"

She blew me a kiss before turning around to hurry after the paramedics who were bringing her father away.

I shook my head in exasperated mirth, before turning around to survey my surroundings.

The island police force was crawling all over the scene, talking to victims and the like. All Might stood someplace in the distance, talking to a few people who appeared to be reporters. I could hear their conversation from here with my sensitive ears.

"_…about the attack on I-Tower? What was the motive? Who was the villain?"_

All Might responded, "A villain who called himself Wolfram. From what I could tell, he was trying to steal something from the I-Tower vault, a technology that allowed people to amplify the power of their quirks. The villain possessed a quirk that allowed him to manipulate metals."

The reporter gasped," That's a powerful quirk, especially on I-Island, which is constructed mostly of metal."

All Might nodded," Thankfully, both the artefact and the villain was subdued before they could leave the island. I shudder to think of the carnage that technology would bring if in the wrong hands."

"Yes, definitely. As always, thank you for the good work, sir."

"Oh no, it wasn't me. I was restrained the entire time. Someone else did all the work tonight."

"Eh?" The reporter looked nonplussed. "What do you mean, All Might? Someone else did all the work tonight?"

"Yes, the villains knew I was here on the I-Island, so they came up with a plan for restraining me. They also took the entire island hostage by taking over the I-Tower control room, to prevent me from acting. However, they didn't take into account the actions of another hero."

All Might gave a proud smile to the enraptured reporters, and turned in my direction. He knew I was listening in.

"COME HERE, MY BOY! IT'S TIME FOR YOUR WORLD DEBUT!" His bellow was loud enough to be heard across the site. I gave a rueful smile towards him, and with a tiny crackle of green electricity, zoomed towards his position.

To the reporters and other onlookers, I would have disappeared from their line of sight in a green flash, before rematerializing beside All Might.

The female reporter gave a yelp of shock, flinching backwards into the disgruntled camera man. I looked into the camera and gave a wave.

"Hello," I chirped.

The reporter crossed her hips in faux anger," That was mean of you to scare me like that." Her face had a slight blush as she talked to me. Her eyes trailed down to ogle my body, before she caught herself and coughed into her hands.

"So you're the mysterious hero who saved I-Island tonight?" She held the microphone towards me.

"I just saw people in need and acted."

All Might gave a resonant chortle beside me, resting his heavy palm on my shoulder. He turned to the reporter," Young Midoriya here is just being modest. He first saved myself and all the others in attendance at the party tonight by taking out the three villains threatening us."

"With the help of Melissa Shield," I supplied.

"Then, after making sure we were alright, he took on the task of stopping Wolfram when he realized that I was stuck where I was. This is the second time he's done my job for me, now that I think about it."

"The second time? What do you mean?" The reporter asked, turning contemplative eyes towards me.

"Midoriya, Midoriya… where have I heard that name?" she mused, before gasping, "Wait, I KNOW YOU! You're that kid who captured the Sludge Villain all by yourself!" She gushed, eyes bright with excitement, " And now you've gone and saved the entirety of I-Island!"

I could only dryly laugh. "It's been an exciting week for me."

"This is possibly the biggest hero debut since," she glanced towards All Might," All Might himself."

The reporter was almost giddy with excitement. This had the feel of the beginning of a legendary hero. And she was the reporter to discover him.

"Say a few words," she thrust the microphone in my face," this might be the words future generations will remember you by."

I floundered a little bit. _I can't just come up with an iconic phrase so suddenly._

I looked towards All Might for help, but he just smiled and stayed quiet. It seems like I needed to deal with this on my own.

"Well, what do you want to say to the world?" The reporter prompted.

My mind raced furiously, before settling down on one perfect phrase.

Beside me, All Might smiled his megawatt smile.

"_**I am here."**_

**Green**

_Sometime later…_

I stared at the coughing, skeletal man in shock.

"This is a lot to take in," I stated, reeling from the gravity of what All Might had just revealed to him. His injury, his true form, the truth behind the One for All quirk, and his nemesis, All for One.

"Be careful with this knowledge, Izuku," All Might stated," for it brings danger to anyone who knows it."

"Why tell me, then?" I asked.

"Because, I have chosen you as my successor." He raised his shirt, showing me his injury for the second time. "I am no longer able to act as my full capacity as the Symbol of Peace. This world needs someone to watch over it, and I have decided it to be you."

"But, there are countless other heroes who are more powerful than I am. Why me? How can I possibly measure up to you?"

All Might gave a smile. "True, there are many people more powerful than you. But don't sell yourself short, Izuku."

He stood up, "Tonight, you showed me true heroism, and even taught me a lesson. You embodied the sentiment of 'Plus Ultra', even more than I did. If I left the burden of watching over this world to you, I know that I can rest easy."

He walked over to me, pressing both his hands on my shoulders, "The burden of power is heavy, but I have faith in you to surpass me. My successor. My legacy."

I stared dumbfoundedly at him.

"Will you accept this burden?"

Could I really become the next Symbol of Peace? Could I fill in the shoes of All Might? I didn't know. I didn't have confidence I could. But tonight I had been given a glimpse of the darkness behind my world. I had lived in a hero society my whole life, but tonight had been the closest I had been to true evil.

"With great power comes great responsibility," I quoted. I looked at All Might.

"I accept."

**Green**

**Katsuki Bakugo**

_The next morning…_

I sat at my breakfast table, eyes glued to the television screen in shock. A spoonful of cereal paused on its way to my mouth, dripping milk onto my shirt. I didn't care. I didn't care, because on the screen was _fucking Deku_, next to _All Might_, being interviewed for saving I-Island.

_What the fuck?_

"Oh, is that Izuku-kun?" Beside me, my mom was equally shocked," Wow, that boy has really… _grown up._ He looks good enough to eat."

I stared at my mom like she had grown another head, as she giggled dreamily at the image of _Deku_ on the screen. He was shirtless in there, his powerful frame on display for the world to see. He was tall, standing at slightly over 1.9 meters, and extremely fit. His muscles were toned and defined, but not overly-bulky like a body-builder. I always hated the fact that he was so _fucking_ tall. Like seriously, I'm only 1.7 meters tall myself, and I had to do stretches almost religiously to get myself this tall. He didn't even have to try.

"Why don't you invite Izuku over more often?" My mom teased," I'd like to _talk_ more with him."

"Why don't you be less of a fucking cougar and shut the hell up?" I shot back, extremely creeped out.

Her eyes narrowed and a vein popped in her temples. "What the fuck did you say to me, you shitty brat? Is that anyway to speak to your mother?"

"It is when she's trying to fucking hook up with a _Deku!"_

"Oh that's it– I'm about to beat your dumbass–"

As we devolved into another inane Bakugou-family argument, my eye's couldn't help but trail to the television screen now and then.

_Seriously, what the actual fuck?_

That bastard had a hell of a lot to answer to when he got back.

**AN: Whew, here you go, guys. Chapter 4. By the way, I'm kind of conflicted about the pairing for this fic. Melissa and Momo are definitely going to be romantic interests, but what do you guys feel about adding more people? Let me know in the reviews. Who are you guys interested in seeing?**

**Right now, Midoriya has just defeated Wolfram on his lonesome, saving the entirety of I-Island. From what I can gather from my research of the wiki, on All Might's debut he saved like 1000 people in under an hour or something. I'm assuming that the population of I-Island is at least on that level, if not more. This makes Midoriya's hero debut on the same scale as All Might himself. Also, he has OFA now, and All Might has officially taken him in as his successor. If you think Midoriya is overpowered now, wait till you see what else I have planned for him. **

**On the other hand, having such an overpowered main character does ruin the balance of the story a little bit. I might decided to power up other characters as well, including both allies and villains, in order to keep things interesting. Keep your eyes peeled for these changes. I'm also undecided about having characters from other series' making cameos in this fic. Who knows, it may or may not happen.**


	5. Chapter 5: Bearing the Torch

Chapter 5: Bearing the torch

**Green**

**Izuku**

With a world that's used to daily villain attacks, the shockwaves of I-Island quickly settled down. It became known worldwide as the 'I-Island Incident', quickly brought to the headlines due to the presence of All Might. Of course, as the main hero of that night, I was suddenly placed under the spotlight as well. All my acquaintances, like neighbours and classmates, wanted to know all the juicy details, but I skirted their interrogations by saying that 'the incident is still under official investigation so I'm not allowed to say anything.'

Technically true, because there WAS an active investigation going on, but I wasn't specifically disallowed to tell people what happened. I just wasn't ready to talk to people about how I killed that night. Intellectually, I knew that there was nothing I could do, and it wasn't my fault, but every night my dreams would replay the scenes over and over again. The sensation of cartilage and bone splintering beneath my fist, the sight of Nobu choking on his blood moments before death, and the sound of bullets striking flesh. They haunted me, making me lose sleep, but I couldn't tell any of my classmates that. Or my neighbours. Not even my mother. I kept myself tight-lipped.

Of course, my mother noticed something was wrong, but she didn't know how to comfort me. All she knew was that people died that night, not by whom, and I never told her precisely what happened. She tried her best to get me to open up, but I couldn't tell her. I couldn't bare to see the look in her eyes when she realised that her _darling_ child was no longer so innocent anymore. I would do anything to spare her from that.

Funnily enough, Kacchan was the only one who discovered my… mental issue amongst my friends. He had taken one look at me, in the midst awkwardly deflecting questions from hyper-eager classmates, and exploded.

"Who gives a _flying shit_ anyway? Don't think you're hot stuff just because you saved a bunch of piss-poor civilians, _Deku!_ I'm more than capable of doing the same shit, even better than you! So you guys better stop _jerking him off_ before he gets an inflated ego!"

One of male members off to the side muttered distastefully, "What's his problem anyway? He's just jealous of all the attention Midoriya-san has been getting lately."

"Yeah, Bakugou, don't be so obvious about your envy! It's unbecoming and honestly pathetic!"

The blond ticking time bomb glared at the group and raised his palm, emitting threatening little explosions.

"**Say that again, you fucking extras**?" Came the growl.

The group rolled their eyes at his antics, but dispersed anyway. We'd all gotten used to Bakugou's threats over the years. He rarely acted on them, so most of the classmates just brushed off his comments.

However, his intervention did take the heat off of me, for which I shot him a grateful look for.

"Thanks,_ Kacchan_."

"Don't fucking call me that,_ Deku_. And I don't know what the fuck you're talking about."

"I'll stop calling you that when you stop calling me Deku."  
"I'll stop calling you Deku when you stop _being_ a Deku, you fucking Deku."

"What does that even mean? How can I stop being something if I don't know what I'm doing to be that something?"  
"If you don't even know what you're doing to be a Deku then you're obviously just a freaking Deku."

"As I thought, it's impossible to reason with someone who hasn't reasoned themselves into their position."

"Your status as a Deku isn't something I'm _arguing_, dipshit. It's my _premise._ You don't have to reason it because it's the fucking _premise."_

_"_Do you have to swear in every sentence? That must be hard."

"_Fuck you, Deku._"

"Now we're just being petty."

Several onlookers spectated our arguments with barely concealed amusement. Kacchan and I were famous for our legendary arguments, and I had even heard rumours of a betting pool circulating amongst the student body about the final victor. Even some of the teachers were in on it, I heard. Regardless of his intention, Kacchan's clumsy method of changing the subject and the subsequent banter successfully put a tiny smile on my face. He noticed that, and snorted, turning to walk away.

"Chin up, Deku. A hero does what he needs to, nothing more. Don't get distracted by anything else."

With those words, he departed, off to go terrorize someone else, I reckon.

I watched his departing figure, ruminating over the meaning behind his sentence.

_A hero does what he needs to, huh? That's right. If I hadn't killed those men, they would've killed everyone else in the room, maybe even All Might. It's unfortunate about their deaths, and if I was stronger or faster maybe it wouldn't have been necessary, but I can't let them distract me from what's important._

Despite his rough demeanour, Katsuki Bakugou was wise beyond his years. If I had to make a comparison between us, even though I'm physically the stronger one between the two of us, his wisdom and battle instincts surpass mine by a large margin. It's how he has been keeping up with me all these years, despite my physical advantage over him. Through our numerous spars, Kacchan had polished his quirk usage to an art, using it to augment his striking power, movement speed enough to go toe to toe with me.

That was all before I got One for All as a quirk, though. One for All boosted my strength, speed, and toughness to well beyond inhuman levels. I have to be extremely careful using it from now on, otherwise I might accidentally kill both villains and allies when using it. I felt kind of bad for Kacchan, because I honestly respected him as a rival. Now that I had All Might's quirk in me, I feel like I cheated him out of a rivalry.

_No, not **All Might's Quirk**. **My** Quirk now._

It was still a little strange to think about.

_The power to stockpile power and the power to transfer Quirks._ What a bizarre combination.

I'll need to experiment more with this.

**Green**

"… and that's what I need help with," I said, gazing into a screen.

On it was the beautiful visage of Melissa Shield. Her blonde hair tangled loosely down to her shoulders, the tips brushing playfully over her shoulders. The blue glow of the screen illuminated her delicate facial features. Displayed on her prominent bust were the words _Smol Might_ inked in bold white letters on her shirt, below which a miniature figure of All Might was displayed. I had the exact same shirt hidden somewhere in my closet, but I never worn it since it was embarrassing to be seen in. Doubly so, now that All Might was my master. _He can never know,_ I silently vowed.

Upon been given One for All, I had asked All Might if it was okay for me to tell Melissa our secret. He had simply responded with, _It's your quirk now, so it's up to you to do with it what you want, including deciding who you reveal its secret to. Keep in mind that whoever you tell will inevitably be drawn into the fight against All for One. If you believe that telling Melissa is for the best, then I will not stop you._ After thinking over the pros and cons, I decided it that Melissa could be trusted with this information. Professor Shield, too. I needed allies I could trust, and the Shield family had proven themselves worthy of that trust over and over again. So the four of us sat down and had a long discussion, during which All Might revealed the origin of his quirk and the long fight against All for One. David Shield said nothing the entire time, merely listened, and at the end of everything, he gave a sigh and said," So many things make sense now. You could have trusted me with this sooner, but I know you, Toshi, so I also understand why you would keep this in the dark." Which led to this current instance. Behind the screen, Melissa was currently deep in thought.

"The way I see it, we should first break down what your quirk actually does. It can do two things: stockpile power and transfer itself to other people," she mused, jotting something down offscreen. "The latter you'll probably not be seeing much use of in the coming future, so we'll not worry about that for now. That means we should focus on the 'stockpiling' aspect of your Quirk."

I nodded in agreement. That was what I had been thinking too.

"In the first place, the word 'stockpiling' is a strange term to use. Why not use absorb? If the quirk just makes you stronger by absorbing energy, why not just say that? No, I believe there's something more behind it."

I hadn't even thought of that. _She's right,_ I thought, _stockpile is a strange term to use_.

Thinking back to my conversation with All Might, I tried to remember if he had used any other word to describe One for All's mechanisms. _Nope, just stockpile._

"The word stockpile implies storing something for later use. Which is basically what One for All does. Could it be you're reading too much into this?" I questioned Melissa, who conceded with a nod.

"Maybe. I was just talking out loud, mostly. But let's talk about the 'power' aspect of your quirk,' she said,' which is also extremely vague."

"What exactly is 'power'? Does he mean energy? Like heat, light, radiation? Remember, power can mean many things."

She paused here.

"Izu, do you have a thermometer at home?"

"Of course," I replied in confusion, "why?"

"Be a dear and grab it for me, please."

"Sure, hold on."

I took a moment to complete her request, while she waited patiently on the other side of the screen.

"I'm back," I said, "now what?"

"Take your temperature for me."

"Uh, it's normal. 36 degrees Celsius."

"So the 'power' your quirk absorbs isn't heat since your body temperatures are normal," she scribbles frantically offscreen, "and it's obviously not light either since we can still see you. It could be radiation but it's unlikely– since heat and light are forms of radiation as well."

She nods," That about concludes it."

I stared at her in bewilderment. "Concludes what?" She just went off on a tangent and left me in the dust metaphorically.

Melissa looked at me proudly, "Without further tests, I can say with about eighty percent certainty what the 'power' One for All stockpiles is."

"Really? How can you tell?"

"Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."

She paused for dramatic effect, a tilt at the edge of her mouth the only thing that betrayed her excitement.

"Quirks," she said," One for All stockpiles Quirks and transforms them into energy."

**Green**

"No way," I immediately denied, "That's insane. That's the same power as…"

"All for one," she looked at me knowingly," it's almost the same power."

"Hold on," I said, "there are holes in this theory. If One for All truly stockpiles quirks, then how is it that All Might only had his strength enhanced. Shouldn't there be more powers available?"

"That's… a good point," Melissa conceded," but it could be that All Might simply never realized the full potential of One for All."

She looked at me, "I myself am Quirk-less, but I do know that Quirks are like muscles. You have to 'flex' them in order to activate." She leaned back and crossed her arms under her bust.

"However, if you were unaware of this 'muscle', could it be that you just never 'flexed' it because you didn't know it was there?"

I shook my head in disbelief.

"This theory is too insane," I said," If what you're saying is true, then everything we knew before is a lie."

"There's a simple way to test this," Melissa stated, "then we'll know conclusively."

"How?"

"Here's what you need– Actually, I want to be there for this. I'll go to you."

_She'll what?_

"You'll what?"

She gave me a smirk from beyond the screen

"I'll. Go. To. You."

The screen turned black. She hung up.

I gulped at the blank screen, looking at my disgruntled reflection on the black surface.

_How am I going to break this to mom?_

_**One week later…**_

"I'm sorry for intruding, ma'am," Melissa bowed as she stepped through the doorway.

"Oh, it's no trouble, no trouble at all." My mother gushed at the blonde, hurrying over to lift her up. "There's no need for formality, dear, just call me 'Mom'."

"MOM!" I hastily mouthed from behind Melissa, _what are you doing?_

She ignored me, and led Melissa inside after linking arms with the younger girl.

"Izuku, help the poor girl with her luggage, please."

Melissa merely smiled and followed along, giving me a sly look as she headed inside.

I could only sigh and pick up Melissa's trunks, following them into my house.

One week ago, when I told my mother that an acquaintance of mine would be visiting in the following week, she was initially dubious about it. However, when I told her that it would be a girl, her demeanor changed immediately.

"A girl?" she repeated, giving me a suggestive grin, "You're inviting a girl over?"

"Y-yes." I responded nervously.

She hummed. "You've never had a girl over before, she must be special in some way. Do I know her?"

"Um, no, you probably don't know her. She's the daughter of David Shield, the famous professor. I met her on I-Island."

My mother gasped knowingly, "My, you sure act quickly, son. Well, I certainly want a look at this 'girl' that my son is bringing home for the first time."

For the rest of the week, she had been giddy with excitement, constantly asking for details about Melissa and I's relationship. I deflected the subject as best as I could, but a mother could sniff out her son's lies like a bloodhound, and she kept giving me knowing looks that made my face tingle in warmth.

Finally, the day that Melissa arrived came, and my mom had taken one look at her and fell in love.

Placing Melissa's suspiciously heavy trunks in the guest room we had prepared for her, I headed down the stairs of my house towards the living room, where the two women were currently seated on sofa couches.

"You're very welcome to stay as long as you like," I heard mom say, "It's about time there was a more feminine touch in the house."

"I've applied for leave from I-Academy, for research," Melissa replied, "so I can stay here for a few months."

"Wonderful," my mother gasped, "that leaves plenty of time for us to get to know another."

"Don't frighten off the girl," I stated dryly as I walked into the conversation, "Melissa, you don't have to pay her any mind."

"Poppycock," Melissa said," How could I possibly ignore Mrs. Midoriya? I'm sure she's a lot wiser than you are."

"Oh, you sweet child," My mom put a hand to her cheeks, "You don't know how happy I am to see another woman finally start taking control of this wild child."

"When have I ever been a 'wild child'?" I protested.

"Hush, now," she said, "you know exactly what I mean."

I didn't. I really didn't. But the two ladies gave each other knowing looks, like they were communicating telepathically, and I knew that nothing I could say would change their minds.

"I'm glad that you already have my mother on your side," I deadpanned to Melissa, "In the span of four minutes, you have turned my closest relative against me."

She raised one eyebrow and sniffed haughtily, "That's my talent. Don't be jealous."

I sighed, but decided to sit down across from the women, who seemed content with making small talk for now.

I let them converse, sitting in silence for about ten minutes, munching on some fruits that my mother had brought out earlier.

When I judged that they had gotten to know each other enough, I cleared my throat gently, gathering the attention of the two ladies.

"I'm glad you guys are getting along so well," I said, "but I do have some questions."

The latter part of the sentence was directed towards Melissa. She nodded in understanding.

"How did you ever get permission to leave the island? I thought scientists and their families were confined there for safety purposes?"

"Normally, you'd be right, but I talked to Papa about your situation and he agreed that this was something that should be looked into. He'd have come personally, but there's too much work to be done at I-Island, so I volunteered instead."

She winked, "Officially, I'm here on Academy-sanctioned research trip, and no one except Papa and the principal knows where I am. I'm quite safe, I assure you."

She made to speak further, but hesitated as she glanced quickly at my mother, who was gleefully watching our exchange from the side.

"She knows. I trust her with everything." I said, eliciting a nod from Melissa.

"As you know, our last conversation ended with… the possibilities of your Quirk."

"You mentioned that there was a simple way to test this," I supplied.

"That's right. For that, I would need the assistance of Mrs. Midoriya here."

"Me?" My mother blinked in surprise, "I'm glad to help, but I'm just a normal civilian. I don't know how much help I'll be with hero stuff."

"Don't worry," Melissa reassured, "All we need is a strand of your hair."

"Wait," I stopped her right there, "are you saying…?"

Melissa glanced at me, "Well, it's not as simple as that, but the general gist is _yes_. That's _exactly_ what I'm saying."

My mother glanced between the two of us in confusion.

**Green**

I stared at the clear liquid in the glass tube dubiously. Electrical pads and wires were hooked all over my body, connecting to a laptop that was currently in Melissa's hands. One the screen were a multitude of numbers and statistics that went over my head completely.

"Are you sure this will work?" I asked Melissa, who was currently garbed in a white lab coat and stylish, red-rimmed glasses, which I recognised as the same ones she wore at I-Island. We were located in my room, where she had set up a mini-lab that emerged from_ her trunk_.

"Well, I used enzymes to splice the Quirk-Metagene out of your mother's DNA, and put it in that solution over there," Melissa explained, "it should accurately model the way One for All was passed on to you. If you drink it and begin exhibiting minor telekinetic powers, we'll know if my theory is correct." She shifted the machine in her hands to show me the screen.

"These here," she clarified, "are your Quirk numbers, which is measured through these wires. Right now, the values are stated to be around 13,213. The numbers don't represent how powerful your quirk is, merely how active. My hypothesis is that, should One for All truly 'stockpile' Quirks as a power, this machine should read an increase in your Quirk numbers."

"Alright," I consented unenthusiastically, "I understand. Cheers, I guess."

I knocked back my head and gulped down the solution. It tasted disgusting, but otherwise went down really easily. Melissa stared at her screen intently.

After a tense few seconds, she yelped in excitement, " It's rising! It's really rising!"

"Are you sure?" I responded, trying to contain my enthusiasm, "It could just be a fluctuation of the Quirk values."

"No," she shook her head, "this is a eleven percent increase, which is well beyond any statistical margin of error. I would've been convinced if it was just five percent, but eleven percent seals the deal beyond all doubt."

"Izuku," she looked at me in amazement, " Stockpiling _**Quirks**_. That is your power. That is the true secret of One for All."

I slumped on my bed heavily, dazed from the implications. I stared down at my hands in shock and, to be honest, a bit of trepidation as well. _This power… it goes well beyond what I ever thought it to be._

"Try it," Melissa encouraged, "try to see if you can use this new power. I want to know if eating Quirks just make you able to draw on more strength or if it means you can use them as well."

I nodded. "Alright, what should I try them on?"

She hummed thoughtfully, " Your mother is able to attract small objects to her, right? How about this pencil?" She held up the writing utensil in front of her. The laptop and measuring devices had long been forgotten in her excitement.

"Try to take this from me," she said.

Raising my hand, I pointed my palm at the pencil. _Come to me, _I concentrated, _PULL!_

The pencil didn't move for a the first few seconds, but after a while, it began to wobble in her hands as I drew on One for All. However, it wasn't the only thing to start wobbling, either. First, it was the edges of the white lab coat, but psychic power quickly covered the entirety of Melissa's body.

"I-Izuku!" she gasped, "Wait–"

With a scream, her figure zipped towards my palm as if pulled by an invisible string, flying from across the room.

"What–" I barely had time to flinch before I felt her impact my arm. I squeezed my eyes shut, fearing for the worst. My hand was still extended outwards, but my palm was resting on something… soft. I gave the mysterious object in my hand a squeeze, and immediately heard a hitched gasp.

_Oh no,_ I thought, _this better now be what I think it is_.

It was. It was exactly what I thought it was. I knew this because I opened my eyes and gazed upon my doom.

My palm was wrapped around one of Melissa's bust, sinking into its marshmallow-like softness. Melissa's mouth hung open in shock and disbelief, her gaze alternating between my hand and me.

There was a knock in at my door, and it pushed open to reveal my mother, carrying a plate of fruits.

"Would you children like anything to eat?" She asked, peering her head in, a gentle smile at the edge of her lips

My soul about left my body, and from the looks of it Melissa had frozen, too.

"Ah, pardon me," the smile never left my mother's face, as she quickly retreated, closing the door gently behind her.

Melissa and I were left gaping in silence at the sheer horror of what had transpired.

"Are you going to let go anytime soon?"

My response to that was another squeeze.

**Green**

Dinner was an awkward affair. My mother made no mention of what she saw upstairs, so it was hard for me to bring it up and explain myself. Likewise, Melissa was just staring blankly into her food. We ate in silence for a while, before my mother cleared her throat and turned to Melissa, "Dear, we've prepared the guest room for you already. You'll be staying here for the next few months, yes?"

"Yes, i-if that's no trouble, ma'am. I would hate to impose–" The blonde seemed extremely flustered, reverting to formalities between her and my mother.

"Oh, stop it, dear. I already said there's no need for formalities between us. Especially not after what I saw today."

Melissa blushed to the roots of her hair. Seeing this, I moved to help her, "It's not what you think, Mom–"

"It's fine, Izuku. You don't have to explain anything. I didn't see anything." She winked at me.

_Now's not the time to be a cool mom, _I mentally screamed, _you're just making the misunderstanding worse!_

"If you'll excuse me, I think I'm done with dinner. If there's nothing else, I'll be retreating to my room. Just call if you need anything," as she stood up, she gave me an encouraging smile, "I'll leave the clean up to you, Izuku."

Saying that, she left and went upstairs, presumably to her room. Melissa and I were left alone at the dining table, stewing in awkward silence. Coughing into my fist, I stood up and began clearing the table. Seeing this, Melissa shot up from her seat.

"Let me help," she offered, grabbing the plates and bringing them into the kitchen sink. I decided to make use of my new power and levitated the rest of the cutlery into the kitchen, where I came across Melissa donning an apron.

"What are you doing?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Cleaning the dishes," she responded, "I couldn't possibly freeload in your house for the next few months without doing anything to repay you guys."

"You don't have to," I started, "We're glad to host you here."

"I know," Melissa stated, "but I want to." She gazed at me imploringly, opening up her doleful, watery eyes.

I heaved a heavy sigh, knowing I couldn't resist her, and conceded. "Fine," I said, rolling up my sleeves," but we're doing them together."

She made to protest, "I've got this," she started, but I cut her off with a glard.

"Together," I said firmly. No buts.

She gazed at me in surprise, but eventually allowed the compromise. We stood there and washed the dishes together in silence for the next few minutes, working up a comfortable pace.

"I never thought I'd be doing this two weeks ago," Melissa suddenly said, "coming to a guy's house. Washing his dishes for him."

I snorted in amusement.

"I think," she began hesitantly, "we need to talk about… us."

I tried to remain nonchalant.

"Yeah?" I looked over.

She kept her gaze on washing the dishes, but continued to speak, "I can't deny that there's… an undeniable spark there."

I stayed silent."

"But, I still feel we're moving too fast. I mean," here she laughed, "you're still fourteen, even though you don't look the part. And I'm turning seventeen soon. There's quite an age gap between us." She looked at me.

"I don't know if our spark is just the result of hormones and lust built up or if there's really something there."

"I–" Words caught in my throat. This was turning in a direction that was not optimal.

"I think you're sweet, Izu," Melissa crooned gently, placing her head on my shoulders, "and I want you, I want _us_, to work."

"So do I–" I began, but she shushed me gently.

"However, I want it to work because there really is something there, and not just because of a spontaneous surge of hormones. There's a big gap in age between us," here she turned her head slightly upwards to gaze at me, her body resting against mine. My heart was throbbing, and there was a sinking feeling in my stomach.

"So, I'm sorry but," she apologized, "we can't. Not right now. Not as we are. I'll wait for you. Can we… just be friends for now?"

Boom. There it was. The dreaded words came out of her mouth. _Can we just be friends?_ It felt like someone was wrapping a fist around my hearts.

"S–" I choked, "Of course. Of course we can, Mel. I understand." The words tasted like cardboard out of my mouth.

I turned my head a little so she couldn't see the wetness I was beginning to feel gathering around my eyes.

_ Dammit, Izuku, keep it together. You're a man, for gods' sake._

Melissa sighed in relief, turning to wrap her hand around me, squeezing and resting her head on my chest.

"Thanks, Izu," she breathed, "I knew you'd understand."

"Yeah," I managed to croak out, "sure."

We stayed like that for a bit, me in slight shock over the–_breakup? Is it even a breakup? She did say to wait, so maybe this is just a, maybe later?–_ and her resting against me, listening to my heartbeat.

After a long while, she pulled away and placed her hands on my shoulders, giving them a squeeze, "Right now, we're too young to think about romance. There are too many things on our shoulders. I have to catch up to my Papa, and you have to catch up to All Might. Your hero career hasn't even started, after all. UA initiation comes in about nine months, right?"

I nodded, gathering myself together. _She's right, now's not the time to indulge. There are still a lot of things I need to prepare myself for, still a long way ahead of me. I can't afford to be distracted now._

"As romantic partners, we'd just be distractions for each other," she continued, "and I can't allow myself to stand in the way of your rise to prominence."

Melissa gave me a serious look," Tell me, are you satisfied with just becoming any hero, or are you prepared to rise to the top?"

I gave her a determined smile, "I've only been looking at the top of the mountain from the very beginning."

She nodded in acknowledgement. "I thought so," she said, "I believe that Uncle Might wouldn't have chosen you if you didn't, either."

"I may not be able to be your romantic partner now, but I can definitely still support you as a hero. Here I pledge to you, on my name of Shield, as my father did to your predecessor, to support you on your journey to the best of my ability. My dream is to see you become the best hero in history, be it past, present, or future. I will mold you into a _**legend**_, and the people will continue to sing your name eons in the future. This is my promise, to you."

I stared at her in shock over her impassioned declaration. A new feeling welled up in my chest, one foreign to me. _This is the first person to support me so. Not even All Might, my master, has said something like this._

"And I, Izuku Midoriya," I said, "do swear on my life, to _**uphold justice and claw my way to the top.**_I will become the greatest. To do anything less is a disservice to you."

She nodded at my words, then her gaze softened and she drew closer to me. She raised her hands to pull my face closer to hers, and she said gently, "So work hard, Izu. Work hard, and never stop moving forward. I will wait for the day you put the crown on your head." She pulled me in and kissed my forehead. In response I pulled her in for a tight hug. She didn't resist.

Neither of us noticed my mother standing in the background, video camera in hand, trying her best not to squeal out loud. It would have probably ruined the moment.

**Green**

_The next morning…_

"Young Midoriya," All Might boomed as he glared at me in muscle form, "are you ready for nine months of hell?"

My lips curved into a devilish smile.

_Hell yeah I'm ready._

"**Is UA ready for me?"**

**AN: That's a wrap, folks. Bakugou is introduced, his relationship with Midoriya is shown, and we get the reactions of the world to I-Island. Similarly, secrets about One for All and All for One are revealed, courtesy of Melissa. I don't want her to just be a 'trophy' girl for Midoriya, and I want her to actually be useful to him, so I tried to portray her intelligence as a character here. In addition, I wanted to show her maturity. She's not just some girl who get's swept up in emotions and hormones, like Midoriya (who is a young, inexperienced boy in the matters of the heart). She is the voice of wisdom and reason, and she obvious can intuit that this isn't the time for either or Midoriya to become a couple. They both have too many things to accomplish. Instead, she decides that the best way she can support him is to help him achieve his dreams. Her dream itself IS to see his dream come true. If that's not love and commitment, I don't know what is. Midoriya, for all his physical strengths, has many flaws, some of them typical of a male teenager. He's not perfect. **

**This isn't to say there won't be romance in this fic, it just won't be NOW. Also, it'd be hard to introduce Momo into the mix if they just started dating now. One mistake I often see in writers who try to write fics where the pairing is more than just one person is that they tend to either get together too early, or are essentially 'forgotten' after getting together. They lose their shine, the initial spark that made them such an interesting person to begin with, and become just 'another girl' or 'another guy' that likes the MC. I'm going to try to avoid that. Every character in my story will get a chance to shine. It'll be a disservice to them and myself if otherwise.**

**I hope you enjoyed the fic so far. I'm going to start spacing out my update schedule a little bit, now that I'm slowly getting a hang of this site. It's summer break for me right now, so I'll be able to write a lot, but once college starts back up again it'll become a lot more iffy. This fic is meant to be long. Feel free to PM me or write in the reviews if there are any cool plot points or things you'd like to see in the fic. I won't promise to use them, but I will consider them. If I do decide to use one of them, I will give credit accordingly.**

**Dollarboy, out.**


	6. Chapter 6: The Hero Academia

Chapter 6: The Hero Academia

**Green**

**Yaoyorozu Momo**

A procession of three cars slowly drove down the busy roads of Musutafu, Japan. The cars in the front and back were full of men in dark suits and eyeglasses, firmly sandwiching the car in the middle.

A fingernail painted with black nail polish tapped impatiently on the windowsill of this car. On this finger, delicately painted, was the image of a flower. The owner of this finger was, of course, none other than I, Momo Yaoyorozu.

I pursed my lips as I gazed disinterestedly outside the window, barely acknowledging the outside view. My mind was stuck on the coming test, after all. I was currently on my way to attend the UA Recommendation entrance test. I was both proud and nervous to be able to participate in such a highly sought after event. _What kind of amazing people will I meet today?_

"We're here, miss." The voice of my driver brought me out of my daydream.

"Already?" I perked up. We were parked just outside the illustrious UA Academy. From here, I could see the unique H-Shaped towers of UA, rising prominently into the skyline.

_So this is UA, _I thought,_ how majestic. It's everything I expected and more._

Giddily, I gave myself a final look over in the limo's rearview mirror. From the reflection, I could see a face, brimming with charm and confidence, staring back at me. This face looked roughly seventeen or eighteen years old, and had an easy smile on its plump lips. My brows and eyes were delicate. I had often been complimented that they looked like a sketch that had come from the exceptional brush technique of a master painter. My nose was high and straight, and next to my lips were perfectly shallow dimples.

I wore a professional, hand-made sports suit. Etched on my ample, prominent bosom was _Yaoyorozu._

Only once I had made sure that I looked and felt like a million dollars did I bother to step out. After all, I was representing more than just myself, but my entire family. _You can do this, Momo,_ I encouraged myself.

"Good luck, Young Miss," my old driver called as I left.

"Mhm," I responded, "Thank you, as always, for the ride. I don't know when I'll be done so please be on standby."

"Understood."

Nodding, I turned around.

Around me, people were already beginning to point and stare.

_Who's that chick? She seems loaded._

_A hero examinee? Must be here for the exam._

_ Tch, did she have to arrive so high-key? Isn't this just rubbing wealth in our face?_

I tried not to let that last comment bother me, but in truth, it hurt a little. I don't mean to flex my family situation in front of other people, especially if it made them feel bad. My mood soured a little, I decided to quickly make my way to the exam location. Making my way into UA grounds, I followed the signs until I noticed a man sitting by a booth alone, looking bored out of his mind. He was a tall, slender man with long, blond hair spiked upwards in a huge tuft. He sported large, black collars, and what looked like sound amplifiers around his neck, as well as being decked out in an all-black outfit.

_A biker?_

"Excuse me, sir," I approached and bowed politely, "might you be able to direct me to the UA Recommendation Exam site?"

He straightened a little, and looked me once over, "Name?"

"Yaoyorozu, Momo."

From the booth, he produced a clipboard with sheets of paper attached to it. Flipping through the sheets, he murmered, "Yaoyorozu.. Y… Y… where is Y?... here it is." He made a mark, and said, "Okay, Momo-chan, you're on the list. My name is Present Mic, and I'll be your examiner today. Just follow the signs and head to the track for now, we'll begin the practical shortly."

I bowed, hiding my surprise at his position, and left to follow his instructions. Upon arriving at the field, I noticed that a few other examinees had already arrived. I examined them with a critical gaze. _These are to be my competitors._

One boy had bone-white hair. His most unique feature was that his teeth sat on the outside of his cheeks, giving him a skeletal look. He was conversing lightly with a girl of average height, who had a dark, mossy coloured hair. Off to the side, a blue-haired girl stood alone, arms crossed. Her outfit was unique: it seemed almost like a general's apparel, with long, black sleeves traveling down her arm. She was tall and slender, with white, porcelain-like skin, and long, light blue hair and eyes. Her bust was also extremely… prominent, should we say, easily rivalling my own. A strange tattoo could be seen in the middle of her chest, which was conveniently displayed due to the low cut of her apparel. Her facial features were ice-cold, dispassionately glancing over the other examinees, who seemed to both be terrified of her and terribly aroused at the same time. Our eyes made contact. I gave her a nod, which she returned with a smile that was all teeth.

I raised one brow. I know enough about body language to recognise a challenge when I saw one. I gave her a confident smirk and a challenging tilt of my chin, which seemed to make her grin widen. Ultimately, she made no move to converse with me, or anyone else for that matter, so I left her alone. Looking away from this figure, I glanced at the remaining examinees. One boy had uniquely coloured hair, being half-red and half-white. Another boy had a completely shaven head. This one was grinning, most likely in excitement, and was sneaking glances at the boy with coloured hair. _Wonder what was up with that?_

Lastly, standing alone in the distance, was a figure I definitely recognised.

_No, _I thought, _is that…?_

I quickly sneaked a peak at the other examinees to see if they were noticing the same thing I was. As expected, everyone, including the blue haired girl, were sneaking glances at this figure.

No one here didn't know who he was. The rising star, a hero-in-training acknowledged by All Might himself, the boy who saved I-Island. His hero debut was legendary, comparable to the mighty Symbol of Peace. At the age of fourteen, he had an amazing record of four defeated villains under his belt, two of which were easily A-class villains. His talent and achievements were enough to put him on the radar of every hero agency in Japan, no, the whole world. It could be said that, in this generation of young heroes, he reigned sovereign in terms of might, power, and achievements.

"Midoriya Izuku," I muttered, "the Green."

He was currently doing stretches in a lone corner by himself. He wore a simple green tracksuit that could in no way hide the powerful, lean muscles underneath. Around his neck was a metal band. It didn't look anything special. There was a 10 meter radius of space between him and any other examinees, who, for the most part, seemed star struck in his presence. He paid no notice to the attention, and focused on his preparation.

I gave a nervous gulp, underneath my breath. My palms started to lightly perspire.

_I have to compete against someone like him? _

As I tried to calm my nerves, I noticed the blond examiner, the man who introduced himself as Present Mic, walk up to the group. He surveyed us with a quick look, before booming out, "It looks like we're all here."

"**Welcome, examinees, to the Entrance Exam for UA's recommended students! Before we begin, allow me to congratulate all of you for making it here! Each and every one of you is the top student of your respective middle school, and is an excellent seed for a hero. However, only a few of you will be selected into UA, which in no way reflects upon your true potential. It is an unfortunate fact that UA has a limited amount of space for incoming students, otherwise we'd gladly take everyone we can."**

Here, he gave a pause.

"**The upcoming exam is a practical. It is a simple 3km race. You will be graded based on your usage of quirks, your final ranking, and some hidden factors. You are not allowed to attack other examinees, nor are you allowed to do anything that would prevent them from otherwise completing the course. You are not allowed to stray from the course. If you are caught cheating or disobeying the rules, you will be immediately disqualified. Are there any questions?"**

No one raised their hands.

"**Then, as a way to start off this wonderful exam, everyone say it with me. You know the words: PLUS… ULTRAAAA~"**

Complete and utter silence as we collectively stared in bewilderment at Present Mic. His fist was raised in the air as he struck a strange pose. The first to make a sound was, surprisingly, the green legend himself.

Midoriya-san chuckled, and raised his fist, "This is the UA entrance, everyone. We may or may not all make it, but let's get into the hero spirit, yeah? I'll be the first to jump, feet in. Plus…."

Besides him, the tall boy with the shaved head grinned. Numerous other examinees began to smile too.

**""ULTRAA!""**

I couldn't help but smile at the lightened mood. Before, everyone was tense and nervous about the exam, but with a quick rallying cry, the entire mood was lifted. I couldn't help but glance at the green-haired boy in slight admiration. _He's an exceptional leader._

I couldn't help but notice that besides me, two other people didn't join in. One was the coloured boy, and the other was the blue haired girl. Both were staring intensely at Midoriya-san.

Present Mic smirked from where he was, and marked something into his clipboard. After doing so, he announced, "Everyone, let's get right to it. To the starting line!"

The examinees lined up.

I took my place nervously. My fingers reached up to unzip my tracksuit jacket, revealing my sports bra underneath. I took off the jacket, and began to strip my pants as well. The boy beside me turned to gape, but I paid him no heed. Now bare save for a criminally short pair of running shorts, a black sports bra, and sprinting shoes, I readied myself at the start line. I could feel multiple gazes on me, mostly from members o the opposite gender, but I ignored them.

_Their distraction is my advantage. I need this to use my Quirk most effectively._

"**READY? SET? GOOOOOO!"**

The starting line seemed to literally explode. No, like physically, actually explode.

Multiple things seemed to happen at once. Firstly, the coloured boy and the blue haired girl shot forward in burst of speed, trails of icy spikes appearing behind them. The boy had his right hand extended forward, ice emitting from his palm, creating a path underneath him for him to slide on, whist the bluenette had simply materialised a throne of ice to lounge on, propelling that forward instead. The two exchanged brief glances of surprise at the similarity of their powers, before shifting their focus to the race itself.

Neck-and-neck with the two was the kid with the shaven head. He had propelled himself forward with a burst of wind, and was now flying at rapid speeds whilst emitting strong gales of wind from his palms and the soles of his feet. Of course, to no ones astonishment, Izuku Midoriya was firmly in the lead, although surprisingly not by much. The other three were only perhaps maybe two or three seconds behind him. The other examinees were buffeted by the sheer force behind these peoples' takeoff, which caused a temporary lull. However, they quickly gathered themselves together and began sprinting off into the distance.

I, however, remained where I was.

_There's no way I can physically keep up with any of the top-level examinees here, no matter how athletic I am._ There was just a fundamental difference in power there.

_However, the Yaoyorozu way is this: if you can't do it yourself…_

"… then imagine something that will!" I completed under my breath. I closed my eyes and began to concentrate. This was why I had stripped myself earlier. A glow emanated from my back as what seemed to be the back end of a vehicle emerged from it. The creation process took about thirty seconds, enough to firmly place myself in the last place by a wide margin, but I wasn't worried. _This'll soon even out their advantage._

The completed product was something no one in Japan wouldn't be able to recognize. It was famous worldwide for its speed, acceleration, and beauty, so much so that it had to be limited in it's engine.

The Hayabusa Ninja. With this, I was confident I could take first place. I materialized a leather biker's outfit over my form, as well as a helmet, before taking my place at the seat and revving up the beast. With a screech of tires, I shot off to officially compete in the race.

It look less than twenty seconds for me to overtake the examinee in last place. Three more to overtake five. Two more to overtake seven. As I accelerated further, the rate at which I overtook the examinee increased. The roar of my Hayabusa caused more than a few to turn their heads back in astonishment, which cost them dearly as a black blur shot past their position.

Soon, there were only four more in front of me. The three examinees I had noticed earlier were still neck and neck. One of them, the guy with the wind Quirk, was able to peek behind him. He noticed my rapidly approaching form was aimed _directly at him_, which caused him to yelp in panic and frantically shift his body upwards. This emergency maneuver of his allowed me to pass under him safely.

The roar of the winds, combined with my helmet, made it hard for me to hear, but I swore I could hear him shouting behind me.

_Well, can't think about it now._

Only one person remained, and I wasn't about to let him show me up, legend or not.

I leaned down further into my bike and accelerated even further, almost instantly becoming neck and neck with Midoriya-san.

I chanced a glance at him from the corner of my visor. His face was shocked, like he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

And then, I overtook him.

**Green**

**Izuku**

_ What the hell is– was that a Hayabusa Ninja? Who the hell is the rider?_ I glanced at the back of the mysterious examinee in confusion. _A Quirk? That allows you to summon vehicles?_

_No, _I chided myself, _now's not the time to daydream._

I didn't think I'd meet a single person here who'd be able to make me activate One for All at all, but my expectations were pleasantly surpassed.

_I'm sorry, mysterious rider, but the first place is mine._

Raising one hand to press against the side of the metal band I wore on my neck, I elucidated while running, "Limit release: 5%."

Five percent should be more than enough to deal with _anything here._ I had been firmly in the lead _without _my Quirk beforehand. My altered physiology was already extremely powerful in the first place.

Now though, I transformed into a green blur, accelerating forward and leaving tendrils of green lightning in my wake. I overtook the rider easily, dashing towards the finish line. I was able to pull ahead and finish about ten seconds before the rider caught up, placing me irrefutably in first place.

I stood at the side of the track, arms crossed, as the rider in black blasted past the finish line and screeched to a halt in front of me. A dark helmet covered their visage, but no amount of leather could hide the distinctive feminine form beneath it. Dark tresses of hair, long enough to reach down to her back, was visible beneath the helmet. She came to a halt in front of me, turning black visors to gaze in my direction.

"Good work," I said, "you caught me by surprise earlier."

The rider remained silent, gazing at me in curiosity. She slowly unbuckled the helmet and lifted it off, revealing a pale faced beauty on the bike.

"You suddenly accelerated," she said, "were you holding back before?"

I could only give a wan smile and a shrug. "I wasn't even using my Quirk before. You forced me to use it."

She stared at me in slight disbelief, then shook her head slowly.

"As expected," she muttered lowly under her breath.

I tilted my head in puzzlement.

By now, the other examinees were finishing up the race as well. The final results?

Present Mic announced, "In first place, Midoriya Izuku. In second place, Yaoyorozu Momo. Coming in third, Yoarashi Inasa. Tied in fourth, Shoto Todoroki and E…"

I tuned out of the announcement here. _First place, this should firmly place me in UA._ I clenched my fist.

All Might-sensei. I didn't let you down.

A commotion to the side drew my attention. The guy who came in third, Yoarashi Inasa, had his hand held out to the dual-colored hair examinee. His expression was friendly and open, "It was a good race, eh, Endeavor's son? My name is Yoarashi Inasa. Wow, you're really powerful, just like your father, huh?" Saying this, he held out his hand enthusiastically for the other party to shake. Unfortunately, the other party didn't seem to want to return the favor.

"I'm nothing like that man," he hissed, "and I wasn't competing with you, anyway. I just did what needed to be done. Nothing more."

Yoarashi's face was shocked at first, but then it quickly morphed into a neutral expression.

"I see," he said, "you're wrong. You're exactly like him."

This statement elicited a bone-chilling glare from the boy before him.

I frowned at this sight, moving towards the duo to break things up before things got heated.

They noticed my approach, as well as biker girl, who for some reason decided to follow me.

"Ah, you're Izuku Midoriya," yelled Yoarashi in excitement," it's a pleasure to meet you!" He bowed down with such force his head cracked the pavement, causing his cranium to start bleeding.

I paused where I was in shock, hand halfway extended for a handshake.

_What the–?_

He straightened up, paying no heed to his bloody head, and noticed my extended hand. He grabbed the limb and shook it with gusto, "Wow, you're just like the rumors. I've been following your exploits man, and I can't tell you how impressed I am. You're my idol, you know. HAHAHAHAHA!"

Yoarashi's boisterous voice was infectious, and my lips couldn't help but curve into a laugh.

"Thank you. I noticed you've got a pretty powerful Quirk yourself. I can see you definitely have great potential to become a top hero." I reached up and patted his shoulders with one hand.

"I look forward to seeing you at UA." His visage was stunned, then emotional.

"T-thank you," he said in a blubbery voice, "That wash sho kind."

The boy with red and white hair was still standing there, although his gaze was now fixed on me.

"Shoto Todoroki," he introduced himself, "I've heard of you." I offered my hand out in a handshake, which he took after brief consideration.

"I noticed your Ice Quirk. It's pretty powerful too," I complimented him, "I can also definitely see top hero material in you. UA would be blessed to have someone like you as a student." I was completely honest in my praise.

"But being a hero means more than just having power. It's also in how you present yourself to the public." There. That was as subtle as I could make it.

Fortunately, he seemed to get the underlying message. He closed his eyes in consideration for a minute, the released an explosive sigh. The biker girl, Yoarashi, and I merely watched him in silence. Todoroki turned to Yoarashi and bowed, "I apologize for my curtness earlier. I was just frustrated about my position. You deserve the place you got, and I apologize for snapping. It was unbecoming of me."

Well, color me impressed. It takes a big man to admit your faults, especially in front of strangers. I began to look at Todoroki in a new light.

Yoarashi seemed flustered at the new development, "Ah–uh–it's no big deal. You don't– I mean– please get up–"

Laughing lightly at their antics, I placed a hand on Todoroki's shoulders and another on Yoarashi.

"I think this means all is forgiven," I said lightly.

"I'll see you both in UA."

Biker girl merely watched everything in silence, her expression inscrutable.

One last person approached our little group. No, rather than say approached, it was more appropriate to use the term 'stalked'. There was something predatory in her aura, whether it was the glint of madness in her eyes, or the way she walked purposefully over.

She came to a halt in front of me. I recognised this girl as the one who tied with Todoroki, but I had tuned out her name earlier.

"Can I… help you?"

Her lips curved into a grin. "You…" she dug one finger into my chest, "… are strong."

"Thank you…?"  
"You're not like anyone else here. Blood…" here she took a deep breath, " I can see it. In your eyes, in your gait, in your mannerisms. You are _different._"

I stiffened at her words. Her words would be cryptic to anyone else, but I knew. I knew what she was referring to.

The blood on my hands. The sin in my soul. The scar on my heart.

"I originally signed up on a whim," she continued, "but now I'm _interested._ The so-called 'King' of our generation." She licked her lips. "What kind of person is he?"

With that, she turned around and left.

"I'll be watching," were her parting words, "to see what kind of story unfolds from here."

"_**Remember the name: Esdeath von Partas.**_"

Our group of four stared at the retreating figure of Esdeath.

"Who was that…?" breathed Yoarashi, his eyes shining brightly. "She was so cool!"

Todoroki didn't say anything, only narrowing his eyes at the figure in the distance.

I was still ruminating over the words of Esdeath, when I realised biker girl was still here.

Coughing gently to grab her attention, I held out my hands for one last greeting, "Sorry our introduction got cut off for so long."

"Midoriya Izuku, nice to meet you. Start over?"

Glancing at my hand, she gave a bell-like laugh, and grasped it firmly.

"Yaoyorozu Momo," she stated, " and don't you go forgetting this name either."

She gave me a wink. "I'll be sad if you acted distantly if you see me at school."

The four of us exchanged pleasantries for a little more, before separating to each head our own way.

As I walked off, something in my heart told me that this meeting was the beginning of something huge.

**Green**

**Aizawa**

The door to the viewing room hissed open as Present Mic stepped inside. The flamboyant man gave an exaggerated stretch, and yelled, "It's … done!"

"Good work," congratulated Principle Nezu, sipping lightly from his mug of coffee, "and how were the exams?"

"Man, you would not believe the seeds we got this year," the blonde man guffawed, "this is gonna be an interesting year."

"Details," I supplied dryly, "we're asking for details."

"Well," Present Mic took a moment to gather his thoughts, "Our number one was Izuku Midoriya, no surprise there." From the corner of my eye, I saw All Might straighten up imperceptibly at this news. "He demonstrated not just incredible athletic powers, but also the ability to inspire his fellow examinees. He was able to rally up the morality of everyone before the exam, and also demonstrated enough charisma to break up a conflict between two other examinees." All Might was finding it hard to suppress his grin. No one noticed, but me.

_Curious._

"Next, we had a total black horse. Yaoyorozu Momo. Man, I wasn't expecting her to come in second place at _all_. Then she pulled a Hayabusa Ninja out of _nowhere_ and cheesed the competition. Even overtook Midoriya the wonder boy for a bit."

The principal stroked his whiskers with a paw, "Yes, her quirk is quite powerful if used in conjunction with a powerful mind. She has good potential indeed."

Present Mic continued, " Yoarashi Inasa. He seems straightforward, with a powerful Quirk. He has potential to be an offensive, defensive and rescue hero at the same time due to the versatility of his Quirk."

"That's the kid with the Whirlwind Quirk, right?" Midnight asked.

"Yup. Next we have Endeavor's kid, Shoto Todoroki. He's powerful, as expected, but seems to have an aloof personality. He was able to open up slightly to Midoriya, though. I have to mention that he was one of the aforementioned examinees who had a conflict. The other being Yoarashi. But it seemed to have resolved peacefully at the end, so I don't think points should be counted off them."

Principal Nezu hummed, "All right, I trust in your judgement. Are there any other members of interest?"

"Three. Esdeath von Partas, Setsuna Tokage, and Juzo Honenuki. The rest are rabble that wouldn't survive UA."

"Seven, huh," I mused, "that's not a bad number for this year."

"Very well," Nezu decided, " I will review the tapes myself later, but if everything is as you said then I think we have our new students this year."

All the staff in the room gave polite claps.

"Dismissed."

**Green**

**Momo**

Two weeks later…

"Young Miss, we're here," once again, the voice of my old driver brought me out of my reverie.

"Thank you, as always, for the ride, Takeshi-jii-chan."

"Hohoho. Enjoy your first day, young miss."

"I will." I stepped out of the car, dressed in the UA uniform, which consisted of a gray jacket coupled with a green skirt.

Heading inside the academy grounds, I searched around the campus until I found my homeroom.

"1-C…1-B…1-A! Here it is!" I stopped in front of a mega-sized door.

_Guess they were going for the 'inclusive' design._

The door was light and easy to push open, despite its size. I stepped inside the classroom and saw that it was already extremely busy. There was a boy with yellow hair, and hair streak of black ran through his locks like a lightning bolt. Another girl had pink skin and horns. I glanced around the room, trying to see if there was anyone I recognized. To my pleasant surprise, I saw Todoroki, Yoarashi, _and_ the mysterious girl Esdeath in class with me.

Yoarashi was sitting in the second row, behind an innocent looking brunette with bangs that framed her face all the way to her chin. Next to him was Esdeath, sitting with her arms crossed under her bust, gazing blankly into thin air. I briefly regarded Esdeath with amusement. She seemed to be trying her best to ignore the antics of the two boys to her left.

One of them had spiky red hair, and was currently trying to fend off attacks from the yellow haired boy I had spotted over.

"_Move over –" _yellow boy hissed, "_I want to sit– next to– the beauty too–"_

_ "In your dreams," _gritted out the red haired boy, "_this is the start of my high school romance. I won't let you get in the way of my happiness."_

The two continued to struggle back and forth. Behind Yoarashi sat Todoroki, his hands clasped in front of his face. He seemed to be brooding about something, his shoulders hunched slightly forward.

In the corner of the classroom stood the girl with pink skin, along with some other girls. One of them had long green hair and stood in hunched position. The other seemed to just be a pile of floating clothes. The last girl seemed relatively normal, sporting choppy bangs on her head. Her defining feature was a pair of headphone jacks extending from her earlobes, which were currently flicking about happily as she conversed with the girls.

The pink skinned girl and the floating pile of clothes seemed to be sighing dreamily at Todoroki, while the green haired girl and earphone girl rolled their eyes in exasperation from the side.

I walked over to my acquaintances. Yoarashi perked up upon seeing me, giving me an enthusiastic wave and a "Hello!". Todoroki spared me a glance and nodded politely. Esdeath lazily glanced over me with her eyes, but soon looked disinterestedly away.

_She seems like a cold person,_ I inwardly thought.

A minute gasp interrupted my thoughts.

I turned my head to the source of the sound, which happened to be the previously arguing students next to Esdeath. At some point, a short boy with four large purple and black balls arranged something resembling a mohawk where his hair should be had joined the two, forming a trio. The new addition was tugging on the yellow haired boy's cuff.

"_Kaminari, look! Another beauty!"_

_ "By the holy mother of Jesus, Mineta! Another angel in the classroom? Truly we are blessed–"_

_ "Let go of my shirt, Kaminari! I wanna see!"_

_ "Fuck you Kirishima, dibs! I called it already! You can't look!"_

The two devolved into another argument. Meanwhile, the short one, Mineta, continued to stare at me, mouth wide open, a bit of drool escaping from his mouth.

I shifted uncomfortably under his gaze. Finally, Esdeath seemed to no longer be able to rein in her impatience. She shifted her position, crossing her legs and turning to look at the buffoons next to her.

"The price for impudence," she uttered icily, "is execution."

From the soles of her feet, a trail of ice moved towards the trio, freezing them all in place.

"Finally, some peace and quiet," uttered Esdeath.

The rest of the class stared at her in shock.

"Should we help them?" A guy with a prehensile tail uttered nervously to his companions. A huge, masked student with six arms rapidly shook his head, an action mirrored by another average-looking boy with cylindrical elbows.

A blonde boy with spiked hair barked out a harsh laugh. "Ha, serves those extras right for not being able to keep their mouth shut." This boy had his feet cockily placed on his desk.

The sculptures didn't last long, however. With a might yell, the red-haired boy, Kirishima, broke out of his cold confinement. His hair, face, and other visible parts of his body had become straight and jagged, like rocks. They seemed to have hardened in place. His companion, Kaminari, broke out of his icy shell by releasing large amounts of electricity, which broke through the ice. Only poor Mineta was left in his shell, unable to break out. Kaminari and Kirishima took pity on him and help him thaw out, but the three were sufficiently subdued by the icy glare of Esdeath.

Soon after this commotion was over, another one started immediately.

A serious looking boy with glasses strode up to the blonde boy who had his feet up on the desk.

He chopped at the air in front of the blonde boy animatedly, "Hey, fellow classmate! Don't put your feet on the table like that! Don't you think that's disrespectful towards everyone else?"

The blonde boy answered with an expression that was both snarl and sneer, "Hah? No, as a matter of fact, I don't think that, you two bit extra. Who the fuck are you?"

"I'm Tenya Iida, from Soumei High School." Iida, who had just introduced himself, placed one hand to his chest while the other was still robotically chopping down.

"Soumei?" Blonde boy sneered, "Well, well, we've got an elite here. It seems like one more reason to fucking _end you_."

Iida sputtered in disbelief, "End me? Are you sure you're here to be a hero? That sounds more like what a villain would say."

Just as they were about to devolve further, Iida suddenly stopped at stared at the door. Confused, the blonde boy also glanced in the same direction. Because the two had been making such a commotion, the entire class, or at least the ones that were paying attention to them, involuntarily did the same, myself included.

At the entrance of class 1-A, a green mop of hair peeked into the classroom. Green, mischievous eyes roved over every member of the class, as he leaned his torso into the room, supported by two hands on either side of the door frame.

"My first impression of you all," Izuku Midoriya stated, his eyes pausing on a yellow sleeping bag near the front of the room, "is that you seem to be a lively bunch."

**Green**

**Izuku**

Silence pervaded the room as the people inside digested my words. Wide-eyed glances were thrown my way as I fully stepped into class 1-A, closing the door gently behind me. I recognized Kacchan immediately, arguing with a tall, blue-haired boy with glasses. Further inspection of the room revealed more acquaintances: Esdeath, who had perked up in her seat and was giving me her full attention, Yaoyorozu, who gave me a smile and a wave, Yoarashi, who was grinning wildly, and Todoroki, who gave me an inscrutable look.

Kacchan and I made eye contact, and he grinned ferociously at me. I gave him a smile back.

Bowing forty five degrees forward from my place at the front of the class, I introduced myself, "Nice to meet everyone. My name is Izuku Midoriya."

I straightened up. Some of my classmates looked flabbergasted, while others were barely containing themselves, for some reason.

"Let's be heroes together, yeah?"

A wave of sound seemed to burst into existence spontaneously. I could hear mutterings across the room of all sorts, from things like _is that the real him? He's in our class? _to _Who's that? Seems like some big shot, _and so on. The terms _I-Island _and _All Might_ were sprinkled around somewhere in there, too.

I approached Yaoyorozu and her group, which coincidentally consisted of everyone I met that day in the entrance exam.

"You sure know how to make an entrance," her amused voice drifted over musically, "Mr. Hero of I-Island."

"It's nice to meet you again, Yaoyorozu-san. You too, Yoarashi," I added with a laugh, seeing the boy desperately waving his hands at me from the side.

"Hahaha, I can't believe we're in the same class together. This is so exciting!" Came his boisterous response.

"Midoriya," came the quite greeting from Todoroki. I gave him a nod and a smile, "Hey man." He seemed satisfied with that level of conversation, so I let him be.

To my side, Esdeath had propped her chin on hand, and was staring at me with an enigmatic look. Her gaze seemed like it could pierce through me.

"Esdeath," I greeted, slightly nervously. For some reason, this girl gave me the creeps. She had a distinctive aura around her, like even though we were right next to each other she existed on a different plane or dimension. It was an off-putting sensation.

"Carnivore," she greeted. I blinked.

"What?"

"You," she elucidated, "Carnivore. Part of a trio in this class."

"A trio? You, me, and…?"

She pointed a lazy thumb backwards, towards someone I knew intimately well.

"Kacchan?"

"Katsuki Bakugou," she drawled, giving me a lazy look, "Kacchan? Sounds like you two have history."

I gave a wry smile. "You could say that."

My palm shot up to intercept a fist directed at my face.

"Kacchan," I sighed, "really?"

He retrieved his fist, grunting, "Don't be a pussy, Deku. That was barely a love tap."

His palms were still smoking from the aftermath of his explosions. Around me, Yoarashi, Todoroki, and Yaoyorozu were staring at Bakugo in shock. A bird-headed boy next to Todoroki gaped his beak in astonishment. Esdeath merely smirked.

"I didn't even see him move," said Yoarashi in shock.

"He crossed the distance from the back of the room to here in less than a second?"

Kacchan gave a grating laugh.

"Hah, you're all too focused on Deku here. He's not the only one to watch out for in this class."

He growled at everyone, "The name is Katsuki Bakugou. Remember it, for it will be the name of the future top hero."

"**Quiet, kid.**" Save for me, Kacchan, and Esdeath, the class collectively froze and glanced towards the unfamiliar voice coming from the front of the classroom.

A bizzare sight greeted us. A scruffy looking man, wrapped up in a yellow sleeping bag, glared blearily at every one.

"You guys are really rowdy," he drawled. "Can't a teacher get some shuteye before class starts?"

He unzipped the bag and stepped out, exposing his ragged black outfit underneath. A mass of bandages was wrapped around his neck loosely.

"I'm Aizawa-sensei, your homeroom teacher."

He glared at everyone, eyes glowing in an ominous red color.

"_Get to your seats. Class is starting."_

**Green**

**AN: Whaat? Two updates in quick succession? What is this?**

**Okay, I was just in a writing mood. I've read some of the comments, and there are definitely some good advice there. Some of you have mentioned that I wasn't making enough use of Izuku's altered biology. To this, I can only say that, yes, I hear you, but it's coming up in the near future. These first few chapters are just to set up the story a little bit. Next, to the person who said I forgot Izuku had a shitty childhood, thanks for catching that. However, that was when he was like 5, and ever since he awakened his Primarch physique things changed for him. Someone else also mentioned about the quality drop in the chapters. I'll try harder, I promise. It's hard without someone to look things over, though.**

**And tada, it's Esdeath! I can already tell what you're thinking. _Another harem member, Dollarboy? Really? This is just going to detract from the story._ She's not. Don't worry. I'm just using her to replace some of the more useless members of I-A, namely one Koji Koda. Yoarashi Inasa replaces Rikki Sato. Everyone else is the same. I had already mentioned earlier about people from other series' making cameos into my fic. Esdeath wasn't one I had planned originally, but I just felt like she would add such an interesting dynamic to Class 1-A. She is the second most powerful person in Class 1-A right now, and is easily able to go toe to toe with Midoriya. She was holding back during the entrance exam because she was bored, not because she couldn't go faster. I decided that Midoriya at this point needs a rival, a foil, and unfortunately Kacchan just can't do it. He might become a rival in the future, but not right now. Yoarashi is a little bit of a fan of Midoriya, which I hope I showed here. Todoroki is a hard character to write, because he's not very expressive in canon. I also had a lot of trouble with Momo, because her personality is just described as 'bubbly' in the anime. What am I supposed to do with that?**

**I feel like she was slightly overshadowed by Esdeath this chapter, and I apologise if that seems the case. Right now, Momo just slightly admires Midoriya, but there isn't any romantic attraction there yet. That comes later.**

**As always, R&R. Not a lot of action this chapter, but plenty of character introductions. I can't wait to get to USJ, where the meat and the potatoes are, but we need to set everything first so be patient with me, guys.**

**Dollarboy, out.**


	7. Chapter 7: The Sidekick

Chapter 7: The Sidekick

**Green**

**Izuku**

I sat upright in my seat, all the way in the back of the room in the very last row. I was seated between Bakugou and the kid with purple, ball-like objects on his head. Mineta, I think his name was. Even back here, I could feel the heat of the scrutiny Aizawa-sensei was giving us.

"You know what I see," he said lightly, "looking at the bunch of you?

No one said a word, leaving the room in a stifling silence. A few of the students gulped, while others shifted uncomfortably.

"Potential," Aizawa continued, "wasted."

"I don't see any direction, any _drive_, from the bunch of you." His tone was scathing.

"I even believe I heard some of you _fighting_ over seating arrangements for, of all things, a _girl._"

Besides me, Mineta stiffened in his seat, and began sweating.

"You know who you are," Aizawa said, "stand up."

Reluctantly, Mineta, Kirishima, and Kaminari stood up shame-faced. Their faces were red, and they kept their eyes averted towards their desks. Aizawa glared at the three, but didn't give them the third degree like I expected. Instead, he continued talking, "Someone else seemed to think it was okay to disrespect their classmates and school property in my class. Whoever had their feet up on the desk," Aizawa's eyes glinted ominously, "Stand up."

Bakugou shuffled beside me and did as instructed.

"Whoever used their quirk without permission, stand up."

Esdeath, sitting about two rows in front of me, jerked her head upright. I couldn't see from where I was, but I could imagine the coldness of the glare she was giving Aizawa. He didn't back down, and simply stared her down until she relented and stood up with a snort. A few of members of the class also stood up, including a brunette girl in the first row, Yoarashi behind her, the guy with cylindrical elbows, and the pink-skinned girl. By now, roughly half of the class had been forced to stand. Some of them were glaring Aizawa, namely Esdeath, but the rest seemed to be embarrassed.

"This is hero school," said Aizawa, "not the zoo. You are learning to become heroes. Paragons of justice. You are not heroes yet, but in my class, I will hold you to the standards of one. This means no reckless using of Quirks, no disrespecting of each other or school property, and no _stupidity_. Otherwise, you can pack up now."

He surveyed the room once more, taking in everyone's chastised look.

"We've wasted enough time." From inside his sleeping bag, he pulled out a plastic bag.

Within them were uniforms.

"Put these on," He said, "we've wasted enough time."

I don't know much else about Aizawa, but he certainly put the fear of God into us within the first five minutes of class.

**Green**

We were gathered around a track, which I recognized to be the same on I had taken my entrance exam in. Aizawa stood in the center of our class, hands in pockets.

"We are now going to conduct a physical exam," he stated. He looked down at the list in his hands, "Bakugou, step forward."

The blond stepped forward cautiously, still wary of Aizawa after having been called out earlier in class.

"Back in middle school, what was the furthest range you could through a baseball?"

"Uh, roughly seventy three meters, I think."

"Right, and with your Quirk, how far?"

"I've never done it with my Quirk," came his reply. "Sir," he added.

"Exactly."

Aizawa drew himself to his full height.

"The government is irrational. They limit the usage of Quirks in schools, thinking it will safer for students to study in a Quirk-less environment. Instead, it does the opposite. By now allowing children to familiarise themselves with the Quirks, they limit the growth of the child."

Aizawa tossed Bakugou a baseball.

"Throw this using your Quirk."

Bakugou stepped up onto the base. He wound himself up in a classic baseball pitching position, screamed "DIE!", and chucked the ball away in a fiery explosion. We watched the ball rocket away, tracking it all the way to the other side of the track.

Aizawa held up a machine in his hand, which displayed the numbers, "730m".

We all gasped at the difference.

"In this physical," grinned the scruffy man," You will be allowed to use your Quirks. Do your best, because the person in last place will be expelled."

Cue gasps from certain members of the class.

"What?" screamed the brunette from earlier, "You can't expel us! We just got here! That's completely unfair."

Our sensei glanced at her.

"Ochako Uraraka, huh? And do you think natural disasters are fair?"

That shut her up.

"You think villains with powerful Quirks will hesitate to use them on you because it's not _fair?_ Lots of things in the world are unfair. It's up to us heroes to combat the unfairness."

"Now are you going to keep whining about fairness, or are you going to grit your teeth and show me 'Plus Ultra'?"

Around me, I could see the fighting spirit being roused in members of the class.

"We'll start in alphabetical order.

**Green**

The exam went without a hitch. With One for All's help, I was able to crush every single exam with ease, easily obtaining first place overall using only 5% of my maximum capabilities.

I used the opportunity to survey the Quirks of my classmates.

Yaoyorozu's Quirk I learned was called Creation, which allowed her to create any non-organic material from the lipids in her body. The potential applications for that Quirk were literally limited only by imagination, making it an extremely power ability. I imagined a villain with that Quirk creating a nuclear bomb and setting it off in the middle of a city. Terrifying. Thank God she was studying to be a hero.

Tenya Iida had engines for calves, which granted him super speed. Tsuyu Asui could do whatever a frog could. Mina Ashido secreted Acid. Eijiro Kirishima could harden his body. Yuga Aoyama could shoot lasers out of his stomach, although it gave him a stomachache if he used his Quirk for over a second.

One Quirk interested me. Fumikage Tokoyami, the bird-headed boy, summoned a shadow-like entity from within his body. It seemed to be sapient, possessing it's own consciousness separate from Tokoyami himself. He called it Dark Shadow, and it possessed the ability to interact with the physical world. I was fascinated with this Quirk. Upon pressing him for more specifics, which Tokoyami was happy to provide, he told me that Dark Shadow was stronger during the night, and weaker during the daytime. However, the shadow-like entity tended to go berserk during the night, so Tokoyami rarely summoned him outside of daytime.

I shuffled that information away to the back of my head for future use. Eventually, the physical exam ended, and we gathered around Aizawa again. The person in last place, Mineta, was biting his nails nervously and sweating profusely. I felt a little bad for him, and wondered if I should speak up and convince Aizawa to let him stay. It seemed too cruel to just cut someone's dream right off the bat.

"You all performed admirably," Aizawa stated, "this'll be all. Dismissed."

"Wait, what about the expulsion?" Iida raised his hand.

"Oh, that," Aizawa gave us an amused look, "It was just a rational deception to make you all do your best."

"_**WHAT!?" **_Class 1A screamed collectively in anger.

Aizawa just grinned evilly.

**Green**

** "I AM HERE… WALKING THROUGH THE DOOR LIKE A NORMAL PERSON!"**

Around me, gasps of admiration rang out among the students.

"It's really him," Kaminari exclaimed, "All Might is here as a teacher!"

"He's more handsome in real life," said Mina, hands cupped around her chin.

"This is the top hero," stated Bakugou, "the man who stands at the very top."

All Might stood proudly in his Silver Age suit, posing at the front of the classroom with his arms cocked at his waist.

"Welcome, young students, to your hero academia."

"It is I, All Might, who will be your teacher for foundational hero studies. Here you will learn to utilise your Quirks in order to deal with all the duties that come with being a professional Hero. Today's first lesson will be: COMBAT!"

At those words, everyone's heads perked up, including mine.

_Combat?_

All Might pressed a remote in his hands, which made cupboards pop out of the classroom walls.

"In here are the costumes you designed and sent in. Put them on and meet me in Ground Beta."

_A while later…_

Class 1A stood decked out in our colourful hero costumes, awaiting instructions from All Might.

My costume was, naturally, green in colour. It was made of a special ballistic weave designed by Melissa herself, months ago during her brief stay at my place. In fact, the entire suit was her design. It may look like simple spandex at first glance, but it provided ample protection to the wearer. Around my neck I wore the metal band she designed more me. It was based off Professor Shield's Quirk Amplifier, only instead of amplifying Quirks it suppressed them. This allowed me to limit the power output of One for All until I got better control over it. I was to keep this band on around my neck at all times, according to All Might's instructions.

_Never take it off, _he had said, _and limit your output to a maximum of 5% for now. Melissa told me that just by putting the band on, it limits your output to 80% of your power. However, that is still more than enough to instantly obliterate most villains, which is why I'm setting a soft limit of 5% on you for now._

"All right," All Might clapped to grab our attention, "are you ready for your first lesson, zygotes?"

My mind briefly flashed to a scene from nine months ago, when I was training my Quirk with All Might. He had called me a zygote back then, too.

Yaoyorozu raised her hand, "What will we be doing today, sir?"

All Might pulled out a tiny book from somewhere, flipping through the pages.

_A script?_

"The scenario today," he began, "is that a team of villains have hidden a bomb somewhere in their lair. The heroes' jobs is to either apprehend the villains, or to secure the bomb. The villains' job is to either defend their bomb or defeat the heroes. You shall be randomly paired up with another classmate, and I shall randomly decide which pairs are heroes or villains. Any questions?"

Iida raised his hands, "May I ask the reason behind such a haphazard method of pairing?"

All Might grinned, "Well, Young Iida, it is because heroes are often called to make spontaneous team ups with heroes from other agencies. You don't always get to pick and choose your allies in the real world."

Iida nodded, "So this is a lesson that looks far into the future. As expected of the top hero, your wisdom and discernment is beyond our comprehension! I am humbled, sir!"

All Might nodded, "All right, let's get this started!"

He began reading off the pairs. I was paired, to my pleasant surprise, with Yaoyorozu Momo, who seemed equally as excited about the team up.

"Looks like we'll be working together quite closely for now, Midoriya," she smiled at me.

I grinned right back, "Looking forward to it. Call me Izuku."

"And me Momo."

We turned our attention back to All Might, who had finished pairing everyone up by now.

"Now, it's time to figure out our first fight."

He reached into two boxes that had come from– _wait, were they there the whole time?–_ somewhere. One box was labelled 'Villains', and the other 'Heroes'.

From inside, he pulled out to balls labelled with letters.

"Letter A and Letter F," he read.

"That's us," I muttered to Momo, who nodded resolutely. As I stepped up, I glanced at our opponents-to-be. Esdeath and Yoarashi stepped up, the former staring hungrily at me while the latter bounced in visible excitement.

"Team A will be the villains," All Might continued, "while Team F will be the heroes. Everyone else, head to the viewing rooms. Team A, head into the building to your left please. You'll find the bomb inside on the first floor. You can pick where you want to hide them. Team F, stay outside for now. The exercise will start in 10 minutes, giving you both some time to plan." With that said, All Might began to head off with the rest of the class, but not before catching my eye and giving me an encouraging grin.

I smiled discreetly back. We had agreed beforehand to not reveal our relationship as master and disciple to the public beforehand, due to the necessity of keeping my identity secret from All for One.

Heading inside the building with Momo, we came across a Paper-Mache bomb.

"Got any ideas?" I turned to Momo, who cupped her chin in thought.

"Well, it's certainly too big to just hide in some corner," she stated.

"We should definitely take advantage of your Quirk to make traps or something."

She nodded, "Agreed. I can do that. But is there even a need to hide it in the building?"

I gave her a confused look, "What do you mean?"

"I mean," she gave a sly smile, "there isn't a rule that we can't just take this thing and hide it somewhere _else_ in the ten minutes we have."

My lips began to curve into a wicked smile as I began to catch on to her suggestion, "That's quite the devious plan, Momo. You make a good villain."

She smiled and tossed her hair imperiously, "That's right. I'm bad to the _bone._" She winked at me, "Rargh."

I smiled at the cute display, and turned my attention to the bomb.

"All right, I'll take the bomb with me and run," I said, "you just trap this building as best as you can. Make them think it's hidden somewhere in here."

"Got it."

We split off, each with a purpose. I snuck out the back of the building, bomb in hand, and took off into the distance, One for All creating crackles of green lightning around me. Ground Beta was full of abandoned buildings. There was bound to be one where I could stash the bomb.

**Green**

**Momo**

As Izuku dashed off, I turned my attention to my task.

_Trap the place up, eh?_

Not exactly an easy task. I could create a lot of things with my Quirk, but I didn't know the first thing about trap-making.

_Hm, this is turning out to be harder than I thought_. I only had ten minutes to do this, and from the discussion with Izuku earlier, we had used up four minutes.

_That leaves me six minutes to trap five floors._

Not really that realistic. I'd have run of out time by the time I finished _one _floor, let alone five.

No, I had to be realistic about this. I glanced around my surroundings. The building I was in looked to be in poor shape, with crumbling foundations and paper thin walls. It looked like any explosions would topple the entire building.

I blinked. _There's an idea._

If I placed charges in the corners of the building, then detonated it, I could potentially collapse the entire building. It would probably be lethal to a normal person, but Esdeath and Yoarashi both had extremely powerful Quirks so they probably wouldn't die.

_Wow, maybe I AM suited to be a villainess._

I set out to enact my plan, setting up bombs on the pillars and corners of the ground floor. I had no idea how much was needed to bring the building down, so I went for quantity over quality to be safe. The charges I set would create a weak explosion, but I made a lot so it should compensate. In addition, I made them all so I could remotely detonate them. With my traps set, I rushed out the back of the building, creating a bike. I made it with an electric engine so it would make less noise. Riding it away in a random direction, I tried to see any signs of Izuku. No luck.

I was feeling pretty weak from the exertion of creating so many objects at once. I probably only had enough juice in me for one more medium sized creation before I was totally out. _Gonna save that in case my plan goes wrong._

If all went well, this should take out both members of the hero team. If not, then Izuku was going to have to deal with them because I would probably not be of much use in my current state.

_Here's hoping it goes well, but they say 'the best laid plans of mice of men…'_

I managed to get a fair distance away from the building before I heard All Might's voice over the speakers set up all over Ground Beta.

"_Ten minutes have passed," _came the announcement, "_heroes, you may now head inside. Villains, good luck."_

I parked my ride by a random building, and ran inside, up the stairs and to the rooftop, where I had a clear view of the action. It had been about two minutes now, which was more than enough time for them to head inside.

_Here's hoping the plan works,_ I thought, holding up the remote detonator in my hand and pressing the button.

A second went by, before a muffled boom rang out from the building in the distance. It seemed to shake, clouds of dust rising from the bottom, before crumbling inwards in a loud crash.

_Success,_ I thought,_ that should hopefully take them both out._ I waited with bated breath. My hopes were dashed, however, when a huge tower of ice exploded from within the rubble, carrying Esdeath with it. She seemed completely unperturbed, but she was carrying an unconscious Yoarashi underneath her arm. He seemed to be bleeding from the forehead, but was otherwise alive.

I was torn between feeling relief that they were both alive to disappointment that my plan didn't work as intended. _Well, at least I got one of them._

_ It's your turn now, Izuku._

**Green**

In the viewing room, All Might and Class 1A were looking at the screen in terror.

"Holy shit," Kaminari said, "she decimated that building."

Mineta was shivering in his boots, "S-so scary! I would've died if I was in there."

A few other members of the class nodded their heads in agreement.

"Let's just agree to never piss of Momo-chan," stated Sero in utmost seriousness.

Tsuyu Asui just turned to All Might, "Is that allowed, Sensei?"

All Might, who seemed completely flabbergasted at the turn of events, jerked slightly in surprise, "Uh, what? Oh, sorry, yes. It is a villainous action, and I didn't say anything in the rules about it, so yes, it is allowed."

"_However_," he added, "from now on you are not allowed to destroy the buildings anymore. It costs time and money to rebuild and I don't think UA will appreciate it if Ground Beta was destroyed on the first day of class."

"Now, pay attention to the screen class," prompting the students to turn their attention back on the action, "it seems like Young Esdeath has confronted Young Izuku."

**Green**

**Izuku**

I faced down Esdeath, who was clad in the same white general's apparel I saw her in from back in the entrance exam, except there was a sword strapped to her side this time. It looked like a traditional sabre. She casually tossed Yoarashi's unconscious body to the ground, kicking at it slightly so it rolled out of the way. I raised my brow at the rough treatment of her teammate.

"You sure don't give him any love, huh."

"Weaklings that are taken out in a single blast are beneath my attention," she smirked, "but this is just as well. I'd been meaning to catch you alone."

"Oh? I hadn't realised I was in such hot demand amongst the ladies."

She gave me a dry look. "Really?" Sarcasm dripping off her voice, "_You_ don't realise the effect you have on girls."

I gave a dry cough, "Well, _you're _one to talk considering how you look."

She gave me a languid gaze, "Oh? Been taking glances at me behind my back, have you?"

"You can't fluster me with this level of teasing, Esdeath-chan," I said, "I've honestly handled worse."

A predatory smile emerged on her visage.

"Oh, trust me," she purred, "you can't _handle _me."

She unsheathed her sword and leapt at me point first, crossing the distance between us in a flash.

I cursed and hurriedly dodged to the side, avoiding the point by a hairs breadth. However, I was unprepared for her follow up, which came in the form of a powerful kick that launched me into a building. I crashed through the walls, landing powerfully on my back.

"Ow," I blinked.

From the hole I made, I could see her standing, hands cocked on hips, cockily smirking at me from the middle of street.

"You're not taking me lightly, are you?" She asked, "Because if you are, you'll _die._"

With a snap of her fingers, a spear of ice formed from midair and shot towards my position. I flipped up from my prone position and kicked it aside, but Esdeath merely formed more. One became two, then four, then innumerous as she created a maelstrom of icicles to shoot at me.

I ducked and weaved as best as I could, but there were too many. Eventually, one pierced through my left thigh completely, lodging itself deep into the muscle. I let out a hiss of pain. The brief pause cost me, as more and more ice spears penetrated my body. I crossed my arms in front of my face to protect my head, but another two spears managed to lodge themselves in my right shoulder and stomach, respectively. I let out a pained groan, falling to my knees.

"Don't tell me this is all the 'King' amounts to," mocked Esdeath, "Otherwise I will be _sorely_… displeased."

From my position on the ground, I could barely make out the sadistic expression on her face. I also saw a brief flash of… _disappointment?_

This wouldn't do. This wouldn't do at all. I pulled out the spears with my free hand, starting with the one lodged in my shoulders and working my way down. The holes began to steam and close up immediately, my regeneration kicking into place. Soon, the wounds closed and displayed perfect, unblemished skin. Rolling my shoulders, I stood up and gave a wry smile to Esdeath.

"That would've killed anyone if they weren't me, you know," I said lightly.

Esdeath merely rolled her eyes, "If they died to that level of injury, then they deserve to die."

"You've got a pretty twisted sense of humour, huh," I stated, "A hole in the stomach and shoulder is considered a light injury to you?"

She gave me an amused look. "Isn't it for you?"

I laughed.

"You got that right. You had my curiosity before, but now you have my full attention."

I pressed a hand to my limiter and vocalised, "50%."

"_Confirmed. Releasing 50% limiter._"

A wave of force erupted from me, blowing Esdeath slightly back. My skin began to lightly glow.

"Here I come," I warned, blasting towards her direction. She met me halfway, and as my fist collided with her sword a wave of force erupted from the center of our clash. I was initially surprised at how she didn't even budge an inch, but then I noticed that she had reinforced her arms with a huge icy exoskeleten, as well as frozen both her feet to the ground.

Esdeath tried to crush me with two ice pillars she created on both sides of me, but those I easily crushed with a punch. I returned fire at her with a jab, which generated a whirlwind of force that impacted her face and sent her spiralling back, breaking through the ice constructs holding her in place.

"Not so fast," I growled, aiming at her figure and mimed grasping something, "get back here."

Her flying figure paused midair, as if suddenly held by some invisible force, and jerked back towards me.

I caught her wide eyes as she came flying back.

"Wha–"

I kneed her powerfully in the diaphragm, cutting off her air and causing her to choke up blood.

"Aackgh–" With a pained groan, she shot off again into the distance.

"Nope, another one." Her body came flying back again. This time, however, she had learned, and she managed to create a pillar of ice at me. I smashed it to smithereens with ease, but it broke my hold over her body, which allowed her to generate ice beneath the soles of her boots. She jumped upwards, propelled by a burst of ice beneath her feat that trailed after her position.

Landing on the rooftop of a nearby building, she grinned at me while holding her stomach.

"Ah, this is what I was talking about," she moaned, "this is what I _wanted._" She shivered in pleasure.

I gave her a weird look. _Is she a masochist?_

_"How the hell did you tank that?" _I demanded. I didn't hit her with the full 50%, since that would most likely kill her, but it was a solid hit at around 20%.

"I'm just really, really durable," she said, "but we digress. Warmup's over, it's time to bring out the big guns."

She snapped her fingers.

"Behold, the true power of the White General."

From above her, an absolutely humongous meteorite of ice materialised, casting a shadow over Ground Beta. The thing was _huge, _looking to be almost half a kilometer wide.

I choked back a gasp, "Are you crazy?" I yelled at Esdeath, "that thing could kill everyone here, including you!"

She smirked, "Not if you stop it."

"What the hell makes you think I can stop something that big?"

"Then I guess we die."

"Shit–" I cursed, looking up at the rapidly falling meteor.

_50% can't handle this._

"80%, limit off. Quickly!"

"_Confirmed."_

Even more power surged through my body, as faint red lines began to appear on my skin.

With a cry, I leapt up from the ground towards the meteor, arm cocked back.

_No, one arm alone won't generate enough force._

I twisted my body midair as I flew.

"Shoot style: 80% Delaware Smash!"

With a bang, my legs smashed into the bottom of the meteor, causing it to shatter into pieces. Chunks of ice crashed into Ground Beta, peppering across the entire training field. Most of it landed on the streets, causing large cracks to form in the ground, but some of them landed on the buildings, damaging them severely.

"Got you," I heard. Esdeath, who had taken advantage of my distraction, had leapt up to my position. She created a hammer of ice and smashed down with it, blasting me into the ground from midair.

She formed more pillars of ice, striking down at my prone form. I curled up my bodies in defence, still in 80% mode.

The ice impacted me, but couldn't pierce through or damage my One for All enhanced body. My suit, however, was severely damaged.

With a groan of effort, I shattered the ice that held me down, flipping up and preparing to leap back in the fray. However, when I glanced up again, Esdeath was nowhere to be.

_Where is she?_

I frantically looked left, right, in front of me, and behind me.

_Not up, not left, not right, nor in front or behind. That leaves–_

"Down!"

I stomped on the ground with all my might, causing the ground beneath me to disintegrate and the entire training ground to tremble. Dust billowed out in clouds from the ground, but with a wave of my palm those dispersed, showing the dirtied form of Esdeath. Pieces of ice lay broken by her side, showing that she had managed to defend herself with an ice construct hastily.

She coughed out a little bit of blood, but managed to stagger upright.

"Yes," she croaked, "_you_ are the one I've been looking for."

We readied ourselves to fight, but a shout stopped us.

"**ENOUGH!"**

All Might's form crashed into the ground between us. He held out his hands, palms out, towards our forms.

"This training exercise is over," he stated, "The heroes have won."

_What?_

"How?" I asked, "She hasn't defeated me."

All Might gestured to me, "Look at your wrist."

I glanced down, and to my surprise, saw tape wrapped around my left hand.

"When?" I glanced at Esdeath in surprise.

"When I sent the pillars of ice at you just now, of course," she smirked, "you were curled into a ball, not paying attention at all, so I took the opportunity and used my ice to attach it to you."

"What about Momo?" I asked All Might.

"She had long been incapacitated due to the aftermath of your fight," All Might stated, "which you should have known, had you been properly acting in your capacity as her partner."

The rebuke in his voice was evident, causing me to flinch.

"Return with me, now," All Might said authoritatively, "It's time to hear your feedback."

**Green**

The walk back to the viewing room was awkward, and silent. I had powered down, and was hanging my head depressingly as I trailed behind All Might. Esdeath held her head proudly beside me, seemingly not bothered by All Might's rebuke at all. From time to time, her eyes would meet mine, which would cause her to shoot me a saucy smirk.

To this, I would avert my eyes. _I can't believe I lost. Even with my power, I still…_

"We're here," All Might's voice rang out.

The door to the viewing room hissed open, and we stepped into a room with a large screen.

Within the room were the members of 1A, who were currently staring at us with open mouths. I noticed Yoarashi and Momo immediately, the former having bandaged his head, and the latter having bandages covering her arms and legs. Guilt arose in me immediately at the sight of her injuries.

_How could I have forgotten Momo was there?_ I should have been more attentive.

_I'm a terrible teammate. I need to apologise to her._ I ran over to her, scanning her body for more injuries.

"Are you alright?" I asked, then immediately palmed my head, "No, of course she isn't, you dolt. What I mean is, how are you feeling?"

She giggled, "I'm fine now. I took a bit of a fall, but Recovery Girl already healed me up. The bandages are there just in case. I should be able to take them off by tomorrow."

"Oh, thank god," I sighed in relief, before dropping into a ninety degree bow.

"I'm sorry," I apologised, "I should have been more attentive to you."

"Oh, that's not necessary," Momo stepped back, slightly flustered, "It's okay."

"No," I stated firmly, "it was completely unacceptable. Not only did I ignore the mission objective, I also lost complete contact with you, my teammate. I didn't think to check on your condition, or to meet up with you. I basically just took the bomb and left you to your own. You were also injured by the aftermath of my attacks," I gave her a guilty look, "I can't possibly apologise enough for everything."

She swallowed thickly, "Well, when you put it that way…"

"I must make it up to you," I grabbed her hands, raising it up.

"Please, let me amend for my mistakes."

Momo glanced at our intertwined hands, a red hue slowly creeping up her neck.

"A-and… how are you planning on making up to me?"

"Anything you desire, as long as it is within my capabilities."

"Anything?"

"Yes. Anything."

Momo glanced around the room, at the classmates who were watching the event curiously.

"I'll think about it, then. Let me get back to you."

I gave a sigh of relief, and stepped back.

"Thank you, Momo."

All Might gave a cough, which garnered all of our attentions. His stern gaze had softened somewhat at my actions, which quietly relieved me, but his arms were still crossed.

"Well then, now that the spectacle is over with, let's get right to the meat and potatoes," he said.

"First, the Hero team. Who can tell me what they did well, and what they didn't?"

Tenya Iida was the first to raise his hands.

"The hero team had two powerful Quirk users, which was to their advantage. They made good use of this initially, with Yoarashi using his Quirk to fly to the top of the building and approaching from the top. It was a good idea, him approaching from the top, and Partas approaching from the bottom. In theory, it would have pincered Midoriya and Yaoyorozu, had they been in the building. However, the lack of communication between them caused Yoarashi to be unable to react to the detonation of the bombs in time, and he was unfortunately taken out by having the ceiling fall on him. Esdeath, although caught in the explosion, was able to erect a barrier of ice to defend herself, which demonstrates incredibly reaction speeds."

All Might nodded, "A good analysis. Do the people in question have anything to add?"

Esdeath ignored the question, while Yoarashi sheepishly rubbed his head, "Man, It's really embarrassing to be taken out in a minute like that. I really thought I could've shined."

"Take this as a learning experience," All Might said, "To always be prepared for the unexpected."

"Yes, sir."

"Now, to the villain team. What went well, and what didn't?"

This time, it was Todoroki who spoke up.

"They were able to come up with a strong plan and act on it from the beginning, showcasing a strong synergy between the two. Taking the bomb out of the building was an inspired idea, along with the idea to blow up the building itself."

Momo blushed at the praise.

"In terms of carrying out the objective, I would have to say that Yaoyorozu completely outclassed Midoriya. As we saw, she was the one to come up with the plan, she was the one to bring down the building, and she managed to get away successfully too. If we look at it from this point of view, the only thing of note Midoriya did was carry the bomb away."

I looked down in shame. _He's right,_ I thought, _I was completely useless._

My fists clenched at my sides, and I bit my lips in consternation. _What use is this strength if I can't use it properly?_

All Might nodded, "Very true. I agree completely." He turned to face me.

"Young Midoriya, you are blessed with great power. It is good that you are able to work well with your teammate, but beyond that, all you showed today was your ability to create massive amounts of destruction. As a hero-in-training, it is important to keep in mind your location and objective. I hope you keep this in mind for future purposes."

I nodded my head.

"Understood, sir. I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize for mistakes, Young Midoriya. Learn from them. That is all I ask."

"Yes, sir." I kept my gaze down.

"However," he continued, "I'm glad to see how well you handled that meteor."

I glanced up in surprise. There was a small smile on All Might's face now, as well as a proud tone. He gave me a tiny nod of acknowledgement. I felt emotions rush through me at this gesture, welling up from deep in my chest. My eyesight began to water. _He still acknowledged me!_

All Might turned to attention to Esdeath, who had so far been standing impassively, her arms crossed under her large bust.

"Young Partas, you too demonstrated incredible prowess and mental agility today. You recovered admirable from the surprise detonation, and even recovered your teammate from the rubble. However, your action of kicking him aside when confronting Midoriya is something I frown upon. Do treat your teammates gentler, next time."

She gave him a sweet smile, "Of course, sensei."

"Furthermore, you were incredibly impressive with your usage of your Quirk. I personally acknowledge Midoriya's strength, and the fact that you were able to go toe to toe with him is nothing short of prodigious. You should be proud of your power. Your powerful combat ability, coupled with your wit, is something that will serve you well. Continue to do your best, and we'll see a top hero out of you yet, my dear."

Esdeath seemed stunned at this praise.

"Well, thank you," she managed, "that is very nice to hear."

"That being said," All Might continued to speak,"Your actions this time were completely overzealous. If it wasn't for my absolute faith in Young Midoriya, I would've stopped the match a long time ago. Most of your actions would've been downright lethal had it been directed at other students. As a teacher, I fear I would be remiss in my duties if I did not rebuke you severely for that. If," here his eyes glowed blue, "you ever use that kind of power against another student here, I will be the first to boot you out of UA."

"To be a hero is infinitely harder than being a villain. The duty of a hero is to protect, something that I fear you have failed to do today. That meteor you yours would have decimated the city you were fighting in, making the whole point of this excercise mute. Reflect on this, Young Partas, and we may see a heroine out of you yet."

Wow, this was the first time I had ever seen someone get the third degree from All Might. Esdeath, initially stunned at the praise, had soon schooled her features in a mask of polite neutrality.

"Of course, All Might-sensei. I thank you for the guidance. I will take your words to heart."

"Now then, for the next teams," All Might announced, " Team C and Team E…"

As other teams began to do their thing, I couldn't help but glance curiously at Esdeath. _How had she tanked my punches so easily?_

**Green**

I walked home slowly, backpack slung on one shoulder. I couldn't believe how many things happened on my first day of school. As I walked in silent introspection, a sound from behind me garnered my attention.

"Izuku!" came a light, elegant voice. I turned to see Momo, panting slightly a distance behind me.

"Momo?" I blinked, "what is it?"

"My favour," she panted, "it still counts, right?"

"Y-yes, of course. Anything you want. As long as I can do it, I will." _I owe her this much._

"Very well."

I waited for her to catch her breath a little bit.

"You know you could've just waited till tomorrow, right?" I asked her in slight amusement.

"I felt like this had to be done on the first day, you know? That way I can remember this moment for the rest of my life."

"Oh?" Her response had my curiosity piqued. _What kind of request will she give me?_

"Izuku Midoriya," she stated, pulling herself up to full height, "I want you…"

"…To give me a guaranteed position as sidekick in your future hero agency."

My jaws gaped wide open.

_Huh?_

"What did you say?" I asked, wondering if I had misheard.

"You're planning on making your own hero agency in the future, right?"

"Well, yes, but that's…" _years into the future, honey._

"Well, you can start now. And make me your first sidekick."

I stared at her in befuddlement.

"Uh, no I can't. I'm not a professional hero."

"True, you can't open a _hero agency_," she agreed, "but you _can_ make yourself incorporated."

_What?_

"Midoriya Inc.," she stated proudly, "I've already thought of the name."

"What–? What brought this on, Momo?"

She sighed, "Well, originally I was just going to have you run an errand for me or something as the favor, you know."

_Yeah, that was what I thought too._

"Then I thought, opportunities like this where the hottest rising star of herodom owes you an opportunity doesn't come everyday. So I got to thinking, '_how do I milk this for all it's worth?' _I then realised that, since you'll probably be an extremely successful and famous hero one day, I'll jump on that wagon earlier. You can't open an agency now, since that requires a lot of manpower, but you can make yourself incorporated, as I mentioned earlier. This means you can start _paying_ people, because you'll technically be a company. _That_, means I can become your first official employee."

She paused here, "You follow?"

"Well, yes." Seems straightforward. What I didn't get was the _why?_

I asked her.

"Simple, Izuku," she said, "despite your mistakes today, I still believe in you. I still believe in your potential. In fact, I could very well see you becoming the next All Might. My Quirk is powerful, yes, but I honestly don't see myself becoming able to compete with people like Yoarashi, Esdeath, Todoroki, or even Bakugou. So in order to secure myself the best possible future, I need to find a big tree. You."

Momo gave me a serious look.

"I'm dead serious about becoming a hero," she stated, "and that means looking forward into the future from my very first step."

I gazed at her in stunned silence. _She had been thinking that far ahead?_

Chuckles emerged from my lips. I couldn't help it.

"It seems like I have much to learn from you, Momo. You've taught me so many things about being a hero already."

She blushed slightly at the praise.

"All right, I'm down. What do I need to do?"

"Wait, really?" She seemed surprised, "You'll actually do this?"

"Yeah," I shrugged, "why not? You're a talented, forward-thinking, independent and resourceful girl. I would be blessed to have you by my side."

Her face had turned completely red now.

"You silver-tongued devil," she said, but her body language betrayed her excitement.

"What do I need to do?" I reiterated.

"Follow me," she said, "we'll have to get started immediately." She turned about face and began walking off briskly, motioning me to follow her.

_Guess I'll have to tell Mom I'll be heading home later tonight._

**Green**

**Momo**

Izuku and I sat seated behind a counter, still in our school uniforms. I had my driver, old Takeshi-jii-chan, drive us to the best corporate law office I knew. He had seemed surprised at my bringing of a boy into the car, but thankfully didn't ask. He still heavily scrutinised the boy, though.

We had gone into the officious looking building together, going up to an office clerk and explaining our intentions. The middle-aged man had quirked an eyebrow at the two of us, before motioning us to sit down.

"Uh, sorry," he said, "explain one more time, please."

"We want to incorporate a business."

He scratched his head, "All right, I guess I heard right the first time. Let me go get the paper work for you."

He returned shortly with a stack of paper in hand.

"Would you need help with filling out the paper work?"

"Yes, please," shot Izuku, who looked painfully lost.

The man sighed and sat down behind the counter.

"All right, first you have to decide if you want to be an LLC or fully incorporated."

"Fully incorporated." I informed the man.

He filled in something on the sheets.

"Alright, and who's going to be the head of this business."

"Uh, I am," Izuku supplied beside me.

"Okay, and your name?"

"Izuku Midoriya."

"I-zu-ku Mi-do-ri-ya," the man spelled out, "does that look right?"

"Yeah, that's right."

"Okie dokie, the next step is deciding if you're an S or a C corporation."

"S corporation, please." I cut in for Izuku here.

Turning to him, I explained, "S corporations are for companies that plan on having less than a hundred shareholders. We're not looking for anything too big here."

He nodded hesitantly, "Got it."

"Right, you need to fill in the address of your business."

"Just put your home address."

Izuku did as told.

There were more page to fill out, the clerk patiently guiding us through the entire process and answering our questions when needed.

After about an hour, we managed to finish up all the paperwork.

"Excuse me," I stopped the man as he turned to leave, "How long does it take to get incorporated?"

"Uh, it's done. You're already incorporated. This young man is the new CEO of Midoriya, Inc."

"That fast?"

"Yeah, I mean it's not technically true until I file this, but for all intents and purposes, yeah."

He affixed us with a curious look, "It's not really my place to ask, but what were your intentions doing this? You guys seem awfully young. Those are uniforms, right?"

Izuku gave a chuckle, "Yeah, we're students from UA."

"The hero school? What're two heroes-in-training doing incorporating themselves? Thinking of starting a hero agency?"

I coughed gently into my hands.

"Of _course not,_" I said, elbowing Izuku in the ribs. He had just been about to reflexively agree. He shot me a confused look, which I returned with a glare.

"We're a perfectly legal business entity selling _hero products._"

"Hero products? As in products specifically for hero use?"

I glanced at him warily.

"Yeah?"

"You'll need a license for that."

"What? How do you get a license?"

He scratched his chin.

"Well, you need to pay a certain fee, and also prove you have the means of production."

"How much?"

"Fifty grand."

I choked. "Fifty grand?"

I definitely did _not_ have that kind of money. _Crap, I didn't think we'd run into an issue here._ It had all been going so smoothly.

Beside me, Izuku looked to be in deep thought.

"If we have this license," he began, "is there anything else we need to do in order to become a company?"

"Nope," the man popped the p, "this is all."

The green haired boy beside me sighed, and pulled out a black card from his wallet.

"Let's do it, then."

The man and I both blinked in shock.

"You have the money?" I asked in disbelief. _I come from a well-off family and even I can't casually wave around that kind of capital._

"Yeah," he responded, "it's complicated. Tell you later."

We finished up some for paperwork, and finally the clerk said, "Well, you still need to show me the means of production."

Izuku shot me a look. _Your turn, _he mouthed. I understood immediately. A glow of light emerged from my palm, as a flash grenade appeared from the light.

"Here," I showed him, "means of production. It's real."

He reached out to touch it, eyes wide in wonder.

"Okay, you're all set. Congratulations, I guess."

**Green**

"How did you pay for that?" I rounded curiously on Izuku as we walked out of the building.

He sighed.

"When I was young, I was the main subject of a large-scale research project."

_I didn't know that._

He saw my look and quickly reassured, "It's not what you're thinking. Everything was completely legitimate and by the book. I wasn't experimented on or anything."

_Oh, good._

"As the main subject, I got paid really well for my cooperation. I've never really had a use for all that money, so my mom just kept it in an account for me. That's it, really."

"What kind of research?" I asked, "I mean, if it's okay to tell me."

"It's fine," he laughed, "just that I started growing new organs when I was young. They couldn't figure out how when I didn't have a Quirk."

"You– _didn't have a Quirk?_"

"Yeah, I–" he froze mid-sentence.

"Y-yeah, they uh– _thought_ I didn't have a Quirk, but it turns out I actually did– crazy thing, it was."

I narrowed my eyes at his suspicious behavior.

"That sounds like bullshit."

"L-look, can we drop this topic, for now?"

He clearly looked uncomfortable, but I decided we weren't close enough for me to dig too deep without seeming rude.

"Alright," I conceded, changing the topic, "now, about our agreement."

"Oh, right," he latched on to the lifeline quickly, "you're hired. Now. As of this moment. Congratulations."

"Thank you," I smiled sweetly, "but what I meant was the original plan. I want the position of main sidekick. This is the favor. I'm the first. The biggest. Understand? In return, I'll support you to the top with all I've got."

He blinked at me.

"What?"

"Nothing. It's just, you're the second person to ever say that to me."

"Oh? Who was the first?"

"She designed this thing," he showed the band around his neck, "and my suit."

My ears immediately perked up.

"She?"

"Oh, yeah. I'll introduce her sometime. You'll love each other, I promise."

"Is she your girlfriend?"

"Oh, uh," he hesitated slightly there, "no, no. It's nothing like that. No way."

I let out a breath I didn't even realise I was holding.

"Oh. Okay."

There was suddenly an awkward silence in the air. He was the first to move.

"I guess I'll see you… tomorrow, then?"

"Of course. Do you need a ride home?"

"No, I can just…" he made a weird gesture, waving his hand up and down jerkily, "jump… home."

We bade our goodbyes and went on our way. As I glanced at Izuku's retreating figure, I felt the enormity of the days' events crash into me.

_ Oh my god. What have I done?_

**Green**

**AN: How's that for a twist, ladies and gentlemen? Betcha didn't see that coming.**

**Canon plods along slowly. Izuku fights Esdeath, that was hard to write. **

**Don't really have much to say. I have lots of things planned for Esdeath, okay? Lots of people in the reviews have mentioned having her be another member of the harem. No no no. I have bigger plans for her. I may or may not take you guys opinions on her, but if she ever becomes a romantic pursuit for Izuku, that will be FAR into the future.**

**Now, he has his hands full with just Melissa and Momo.**

**Other than that, I hope you liked the chapter. As always, your reviews are much appreciated. Let me know of any plot holes, or anything, and I'll do my best to address them in the story. **

**Dollarboy, out.**

**Edit: Wow, the response to this chapter was something I hadn't expected at all. Okay, that's fine, I'm can take constructive criticism so I'll address your concerns one by one. **

**1) 'Esdeath is a mary sue/ she should've been expelled rather than praised'**

**In hindsight, yes, you're right. I went back and changed that part, so give it a re-read. However, I do have to argue the allegations of her 'mary-sue-ness'. If you read carefully, after Midoriya started taking her seriously, nothing she threw at him could hurt him. I get that some of you are frustrated with how unfairly powerful she is, but trust me, there is a reason for that. I'll reveal the reason most like within the next two chapters, so just sit tight for now.**

**2) 'Midoriya is too weak' or some variation of that**

**I had to go back and edit the fight with Esdeath a lil bit to make it more obvious, but when I had Midoriya power up to 50% and when he punched her, it wasn't a full 50% punch. Midoriya, unlike Esdeath, knows to control his punches. Having 50% of your power unleashed doesn't mean all your punches are at 50% levels of force. It just means you can _reach_ up to 50% levels of force. So, at 50% limit, Midoriya can dish out, at his will, anywhere from 1% to 50%. The way I have One for All work in this fic is a qualitative increase across the board. He becomes proportionally more durable, more speedy, more _everything,_ really, the more One for All is unleashed. If I made Midoriya seem weak, it was because he is training to be a _hero_, he is training in _control_.**

**3) 'Why the hell was he so submissive to Momo'**

**I don't really understand this review, because to me he really wasn't. He offered a favor to Momo in order to make up for his mistake during the class. He thought that it would be something simple, but Momo came up to him with something else completely. Someone mentioned how he basically sold his soul to Momo. What? No he didn't. _She_ works for _him,_ not the other way around. It was a valid suggestion, and serves to tie the two characters together closer than would be classmates. **

**Everything I have happen to Midoriya, including his 'loss', is crucial to moulding his character. What would happen to someone with overwhelming power, in a society where power determines everything, who always had everything go his way? He becomes arrogant and conceited, that's what happens. He becomes unable to handle setbacks. Losses are _good_ for him. I personally feel like if my main character just one shots everyone he comes across, that makes for a boring read. I introduced Esdeath as a foil to Midoriya, but since I made him so powerful so early on in the story, I needed her to at least be able to challenge him.**


	8. Chapter 8: The USJ Incident

Chapter 8: The USJ Incident

**Green**

**Izuku**

The night quickly passed, and I made my way to school the following day. Taking my seat at the back of class, I took the time the review the events of the day prior. After separating from Momo, I went home and arrived to the sound of rushing water in the kitchen. My mom had popped her curious head into the hallway, asking, "Is that you, son?"

"It's me."

"It's not like you to come home late, dearie. Was there something going on after school?"

"Oh, it was nothing. It's just that you're looking at the proud new CEO of Midoriya Incorporated, with a grand spanking total of one employee."

She laughed, "Oh, you silly boy. Ever the jokester, I see."

"Dinner's on the table if you're still hungry."

"Thanks, mom."

Sometimes the truth was just so absurd that if you weren't there for it, no one would believe it ever happened.

I found my attention being drawn back into the present when I sensed someone settle down in the seat to my right. I turned my head to see Momo, who gave me a small wave and a smile.

"Good morning, _sir._" There was a teasing edge in her voice.

"You don't have to call me that," I groaned, already foreseeing the plethora of issues that would come with her calling me _sir_ in public, "just Izuku is fine."

She gave me a faux affronted look, "But tradition dictates that a _fine line_ be drawn between employers and employees. You shall refer to me by name, while _I, _on the other hand, will address you by your proper title."

I raised one sarcastic eyebrow. "My title? I didn't realise I had one."

"Don't be silly, you're the CEO of a company. Of course you have one."

"Yeah," I said, "a _shell_ company."

"Still technically a company. And who knows, maybe it might go somewhere in the future."

"Whatever," I rolled my eyes, "just don't call me sir in public."

"Roger that, sir," She gave me a mini-salute, coupled with a giggle.

I sighed.

"Speaking of which," she continued lightly, "we never decided on a proper position for me."

"What?"

"My official job position," she said.

"Why the _hell_ do you need a job position? This is all fake, remember? It's just a temporary thing until we graduate in three years and I can officially open a hero agency."

She pouted, "Well, I'd still like one, regardless."

"You're not getting one."

"Why not?"

"Because this conversation is dumb."

"Dumb?" she said hotly, "How is clarifying my position with you dumb?"

I immediately cringed at the volume.

"Keep your voice down," I hissed, "are you _trying_ to make a scene?"

She ignored me.

"I can't believe you," she continued, beginning to attract a few curious stares from the rest of the class, "Have you ever put _any_ thought into our relationship?"

She pretended to dab away tears at the corner of her eye. I stared at her incredulously. _What the hell is she talking about–?_

Whispers were beginning to pass around the room.

_I didn't realise Midoriya and Yaoyorozu were like that._

_ Me neither. What a lucky bastard, that Midoriya._

_ Wait, it seems like they're having relationship issues right now._

_ Does that I mean I still have a chance?_

"Look, now they're mistaking us for a couple–"

"Tell me," she cried, a coy smile suppressed at the corner of her eyes, "what am I to you?"

"_Why the fuck are you saying it like that– _I, uh, you're my," I stared her in the eyes, "_beloved. Partner._" Two could play at this game.

From around the room, gasps rang out simultaneously.

"Oh, that is too sweet," Mina Ashido cooed, "you two are _so_ cute."

"Congratulations, man," Kirishima stated, "I didn't know you two were together."

"It all makes sense now," said Tsuyu, "no wonder I saw you two walking off together yesterday."

"Did you ask her out last night?"

I turned to Momo, who looked all too innocent right now.

"Was this the position you wanted?" I asked dryly.

"I was thinking more among something along the lines of secretary or something but this works too."

"Well, I hope you're happy," I gave up with a frustrated sigh.

_Great,_ _now everyone thinks we're dating._

Just what I needed. At this moment, Aizawa decided to walk into class.

"Homeroom is starting now. Everyone get to your seats."

The room instantly quieted down.

"All right, before I say anything, some of you may have noticed a group of reporters on your way in this morning."

All of us nodded. It had been quite the hassle to escape from them.

"Now that All Might is teaching at UA, situations like this might become more common. If you encounter this situation in the future, just ignore them and keep walking. Don't try to answer their questions. Understood?"

"Yes, sir." We chorused.

"Right. I heard from All Might yesterday about the results of your combat class." Aizawa took a look at his notes.

"Midoriya and Partas," he said, "you two are powerful, but that also means you both must be extra careful about wielding said power. Try to harness more restraint, got it?"

"Yes sir./ Sure."

He continued to rattle off a list of tips to the rest of the class.

"Right, now that we've reviewed yesterday's classes, let's get to the most important business of today."

Aizawa glanced up from his notes. "You guys need to pick out the class representatives from amongst you. I don't care who it is, just make it quick." After saying that, he retreated into his yellow sleeping bag.

The room instantly burst into a clamour, quickly devolving into utter chaos. Everyone seemed to be talking at the same time.

"EXCUSE ME!" came a piercing voice that rang over the crowd. We all turned our attention to Iida, who had his hand raised straight up.

"We need to do this in the most civilised way possible," he said, "meaning a democratic process. Let's put it to a vote."

_Even though you clearly have your hand raised the highest?_ We all thought collectively.

After about ten minutes, the final results came out. I was surprised to find myself with the highest number of votes in the class, with Momo coming in second.

"Wait," I said, "I couldn't possibly be the class president. Someone else must be more qualified."

"I don't think anyone else here in the room is more qualified than you," laughed Kaminari, "just take the position, dude."

"Yeah," Uraraka pumped her fist encouragingly, "we all think you're the best choice."

"But," I blinked hesitantly, "you all saw how I messed up so badly during yesterday's class."

"No one can be perfect," this time it was Yoarashi who spoke up, "we all make mistakes. But you were able to reflect on yourself and learn from your errors in the end. Besides that, you are the sole person in the room who has had actual experience doing hero work. No one else here can compare to that."

"We'll support you no matter what," came the encouraging shout from Ashido, "so just hurry up and take the position."

"Humph, I'm just waiting for you to fuck up so I can take your position, Deku," Kacchan threatened menacingly from his seat, "If you don't want it then give it to me."

I ignored him.

"Don't fucking ignore me, you piece of shit!"

"Thank you everyone for the nomination. I'll try to keep up to your expectations."

Everyone cheered and applauded.

"Hell yeah, that's the spirit!"

"Class 1A, represent!"

"Alright, alright, that's enough." Aizawa stepped in at this point.

"You're gonna blow out my eardrums at this rate."

**Green**

**Momo**

"So," came the sly voice of Ashido, "you and Midoriya, huh." The girls and I were currently seated around a cafeteria table. Pretty much all of the 1A girls were here, save for Esdeath, who had disappeared somewhere for lunch.

I blushed at the insinuation in her tone.

"There's nothing between us," I denied, "we're just normal friends."

"Oh, you can't deny it," Hagakure sang, "we all heard him loud and clear today."

"Oh yes," Jirou's eyes twinkled mischievously, "what did he call you again? Something like 'my beloved.'"

"My beloved partner," supplied Uraraka, "Oh, that's so romantic! Did he ask you out last night?"

"That's right," Asui jumped in at this point, "I saw you guys walking together after school yesterday. He even went into your car, I think."

The girls pestered me for details about a non-existent relationship, which gave me a pounding headache. If I had known this was going to be the result of my intentional outburst this morning, I would've kept my mouth shut. No matter how much I tried to deny everything, they just seemed to take it as me being shy and sink further into their delusion.

_Oh dear,_ I thought, _I seemed to have dug quite a pit for myself. _

The topic eventually petered off when they realised I wasn't going supply any juicy details, switching tracks to the missing member of our party.

"Has anyone seen Esdeath-chan?" someone asked.

"Yeah, she disappeared off somewhere. I haven't seen her since the bell rang for lunch." Asui mentioned.

"She seems quite cold and aloof," Uraraka said, "Maybe she just prefers to eat lunch by herself?"

"Tch, what's with that," Ashido complained, "thinks she's better than us or something?"

"Well, you saw how powerful she is yesterday," Hagakure said, "she even managed to beat Midoriya."

"That's right, you were there, Momo," Jirou mentioned, "what was it like?"

I thought back to the fight I witnessed yesterday. I couldn't suppress a chill that shot down my spine at the memory of those two duking it out.

"Those two," I began, "are _monsters_ in their own right."

The group let that phrase stew in the air for a bit.

"Yeah," eventually Ashido spoke up, "I wouldn't want to fight either of them, ever. I'm glad they're on our side."

"So am I," I responded, inwardly thinking_, you have no idea how glad I am for that._

"I feel bad for whatever villain gets in their way," mused Uraraka. We all shared a laugh at that.

**Green**

_The next day…_

Today's Hero class was focused on 'rescue' training. Our class was currently gathered outside a large, dome-shaped building. Aizawa-sensei and an unfamiliar figure in an astronaut's suit stood in front of the gates.

"Hello, everyone," the astronaut waved cheerily, "my name is Thirteen, and today I'll be your rescue training instructor."

"This building you see behind me," he gestured broadly to the dome-shaped architecture, "is called the 'Unforeseen Simulation Joint'– also known as the USJ! Here, you will learn to utilise your Quirk to rescue people in a variety of simulated conditions."

"Some of you here were born with extremely powerful Quirks that could easily kill someone," Thirteen didn't mention any names, but we all knew who he was referring to, "but Quirks were not given to you to hurt others. Remember that always."

I raised my hand, "Excuse me, sensei?"

"Yes, Yaoyorozu?" Aizawa asked.

"Where is All Might-sensei? Not to be rude, but I was under the impression that he would be teaching us Hero Foundations?"

"He's been held up with hero work outside of school," Aizawa stated, "we're not sure if he can make it in time for class so we'll just have to make do without him."

He and Thirteen shared a meaningful gaze.

"Alright then," I placed my hand down.

"If there aren't any further questions, we'll head in now."

The inside of the dome was even more impressive than the building's outward appearance. From where we stood, I could see a multitude of landscapes dotting the building. A large lake, a dilapidated area with crumbling buildings, some of which were on fire, a large rocky outcrop to the side.

"Woah," Mineta's eyes were sparkling, "this is like the amusement park but a thousand times cooler."

Thirteen gave a laugh at his words, "That's definitely true. This right here is a perk that only heroes get to experience. Alright, so what's first–"

The sound of a switch being flipped off interrupted Thirteen. All around us, lights began to shut off from around the inner dome of USJ.

"What's going on?" asked Kaminari, "Is this part of the lesson?"

A black, purple mist suddenly phased into existence a distance away, in the middle of USJ. It expanded from the size of a fist to about the same size as the face of a double-decker bus. From within the mist, men and women of all shapes and sizes began to walk out, glaring at us menacingly.

Aizawa crouched slightly, "No, this isn't. Thirteen, protect the students. This is a villain attack. Try to contact the school."

"I can't," replied the astronaut, "there seems to be something interferring with the signal."

"So this was a planned attack, huh," Aizawa stated, "Bring the students out of here. I'm leaving it to you."

"**Oh, don't be in such a hurry to leave."** From within the mist, a man with hands all over his body walked out. Besides him were two figures. One seemed to be wearing a suit. He had metal plates around his collarbone, and his entire body seemed to be made out of the same purple mist the other villains walked out of. However, my attention was focused on the hulking black figure on the other side of the man. The body type was wrong, as well as the skin colour, but the face…

"Uh, Midoriya…" the trembling voice of Mineta rang out from our group, "Why does that black villain have your face and hair?"

It was almost an identical look. The curly green hair, as well as the facial structure, everything was identical. However, the other villain had an impassive, slightly dumb-looking expression on its face. We all turned to Izuku, who looked equally as flabbergasted as we were.

"I have no idea," he said, "I'm just as lost as you are."

"Kids," came the sharp voice of Thirteen, "this is no time to be gawking. Let's go."

"Wait," Izuku protested, "we can't just leave Aizawa-sensei here to deal with the villains on his own. Even if he can erase Quirks, there's just too many for one man alone. Let me help."

Aizawa turned to us, yellow goggles over his eyes. "You can't be a hero with just one trick," he said, "Don't worry about me. You guys are still students, and you can't fight, so leave it to the professionals. Your job is to escape from here, so I can safely escape too. Understand?"

Thirteen impatiently urged, "Come on, there's no time to argue. Let's go."

Aizawa jumped down to engage the villains, whilst the rest of us reluctantly trailed behind Thirteen. Izuku, especially, was glancing back at Aizawa's form, fingers nervously touching the band around his neck. I grabbed his arm to focus his attention.

"Trust in sensei," I said, staring into his eyes, "No matter how powerful you are, we're still students, remember. It's not our job to fight villains yet."

"But–" he started, but cut himself off with a frustrated sigh, "I know, but it just really frustrates me to not be able to help despite being able to."

I gave his arm a consoling pat, "I know. We're all frustrated. But we've got to do the right thing."

"Yeah."

Our plans to escape were swiftly brought to a halt, however, when the misty man teleported in front of us, cutting off our escape route.

"Ah, the party has just started. Where are the guests going, I wonder?"

"Get back behind me," Thirteen yelled, putting himself in front of us.

The villain gave a chuckle at this sight, "My, my, it's like the mother hen protecting her chicks. I wonder if that makes me the big bad wolf?"

"No," Thirteen said, opening the caps at the edge of his fingertips, "it makes you someone who's about to be in a world of pain."

"Ho ho," chuckled the villain, "so scary."

He crossed his arms, looking entire unconcerned.

"How long are you going to make us wait?"

We all froze, wondering what he meant. A minute sigh rang out, and we all watched in shock as a spear of ice penetrated Thirteen from behind. The astronaut collapsed onto the ground, unmoving. Dead.

Esdeath Partas walked out from within the class, stepping lightly over the body of Thirteen as she approached the misty villain. Her face was impassive and cold, like an iceberg.

"Esdeath…?" Izuku's strained voice rang out. "What the hell…?"

She made an about face, turning her body to face us, standing with one hand cocked on her hips from her place next to the villain.

"Allow me to introduce my colleague, Kurogiri," she said, "We are members of the League of Villains. Our primary goal?" She licked her lips, giving them a glossy shine.

"To assassinate the Symbol of Peace."

The revelation left us reeling.

_What?_

**Green**

**Izuku**

I could feeling the anger growing hotly inside me. The body of Thirteen lay cooling off to the side, punctured through with a spear of ice.

_How could she do this? How could she betray us?_

"Why?" I gritted out, "why do this? What did they threaten you with to make you betray us?"

"Betray you?" she feigned surprise, "I didn't betray you. I was never on your side, after all."

Somehow, that made it worse.

"We trusted you," Uraraka said, tears in her eyes.

"We treated you as a friend."

"And this is how you repay us?" Kirishima looked completely enraged, his Quirk already activated all over his body.

Esdeath snorted. "Your friendship means nothing. I've only know you guys for two days, anyway. Spare me the dramatics, please."

Some of the girls gasped in hurt.

"Who cares," Bakugo snapped, "it's clear she's an enemy. Let's just blow this bitch to the heavens."

"Wait," I said, stopping the members of the class that were about to engage in combat. "With Aizawa-sensei preoccupied and Thirteen-sensei incapacitated, the chain of command falls down to me."

"You can't possibly be telling us not to engage?" Bakugou looked at me incredulously, "We're holding back even at this point?"

"No, of course not," I replied, my mind racing furiously at this point. _The situation has escalated too far for us to just sit back. Right now, our priority is to alert the school. But how?_

"Iida," I snapped, causing the bespectacled boy to snap his head in attention, "I need you to escape."

"What?" he said, "I can't possibly leave you guys behind–"

"You are the fastest runner in class besides me and Yoarashi. You are the only one who can send out the news as fast as possible."

"I can fight–" he insisted, but I cut him off, "I know you can!" I snapped.

He flinched, taken aback.

"I know you can," I repeated in a softer tone, "But we don't need a 'Iida who can fight.' We _need,_" I stared him down, "and 'Iida who can save us all.' Can you do that?"

He gulped, "Yes. Yes I can."

"Kacchan, go back and support Aizawa-sensei," I continued, "Yoarashi, go with him. Try to stay in the air as much as possible."

The tall boy gave me a determined nod.

"Got it."

"Don't fucking tell me what to do–"

Yoarashi laughed, and with a gentle application of his Quirk, lifted Bakugou up with a gust of wind and carried him off in the direction of Aizawa.

"I can fly by _myself_ you dumb _ceiling fan_–" His curses slowly faded into the distance.

"Todoroki, with me," I said, stepping forward towards Kurogiri and Esdeath, "we'll deal with the two of them."

"Ah." He stepped in place beside me, his right side beginning to ice over.

"If things get too hairy," I stated lowly, "I may need to see that left side of yours."

The boy with dual-colored hair didn't respond.

_Lastly…_

"Momo," I called, catching the attention of my raven-haired partner.

"Yes?"

"I'll leave the rest to you. Call it."

With that, I dashed off to engage the enemy.

"Esdeath," I roared, "rematch!"

**"One for All: 80%!"**

**Green**

**Momo**

A wave of displaced air blasted into the rest of the class as Izuku took off, Todoroki next to him. The rest of Class 1A turned to me with expectant gazes.

"What do we do?" Hagakure said worriedly.

"We need to take advantage of this opportunity to get Iida out of here," I stated, turning to Uraraka, "Ochako-chan, make Iida weightless. Tsuyu, how far can you throw? Can you throw him all the way to the gate?"

The frog girl considered for a moment, " I should be able to, yeah."

"Get started," I told them, before turning to the rest of the class.

"My Quirk makes me strong in close-combat," Kirishima stepped up, "I can go support Bakugou and Yoarashi."

"I'll go with you." Shoji, Ojiro, and Ashido stepped up.

"Be careful," I nodded, "Stay safe."

"Got it." The trio ran off.

"Aoyama," I turned to the blond boy, "how far is the range of your laser?"

"It is accurate up to a _fabulous_ distance of one kilometer," the blond boy began, "However, I get stomachaches if I shoot for over one second."

"That's fine," I reassured him, "just do your best to snipe the villains. Kaminari, go with him. Find an vantage point. Protect Aoyama. Anyone get close to him, tase them."

"You betcha!" He winked at me. "Let's go, Frenchie! Wait, are you even French?"

This left Tokoyami, Sero, Jirou, Mineta, Hagakure, and me.

"Tokoyami," I began, "Can you fly? With Dark Shadow?"

He looked surprised, summoning his alter-ago out from within him.

"Can we, Dark Shadow?"

**"**_**Dunno, boss. We could try.**_**"**

Dark Shadow tried to lift up Tokoyami, but couldn't get him off the ground.

"_**Sorry, boss."**_

"What if he wrapped around you," I asked, "like a cloak, or a wing?"

_**"Ooh, I like that idea, boss. Super edgy and cool, just like us.**_**"**

Tokoyami tried my suggestion, and to our collective surprise, he began to float.

The bird-head looked at me in excitement, "Thank you, Yaoyorozu-chan. I've discovered a new use of my Quirk thanks to you. What do you need me to do?"

"Fly around. Observe the situation. Help anyone who needs it. You're aerial support."

He nodded, and took off. Sero stepped up, watching me eagerly.

"What can I do?"

I looked him over in consideration. _Tape, huh?_

"You can find fallen villains and subdue them with tape. Tie them up. Also, if anyone from our class is injured, use your tape as emergency medical aid."

Sero enthusiastically nodded, and ran off to do his bidding.

I turned to the remaining members.

"You guys just follow me," I said, "we'll go support whoever needs the most help."

A loud boom shook the USJ building, and we turned to see Esdeath crash into the ground, causing cracks to form all over the earth. Izuku landed not far from where she lay, a small crater forming around his legs from his landing. In his hand was the ragged looking body of the misty villain, Kurogiri, who was slumped like a ragdoll.

Izuku threw the black villain next to Esdeaths' unconscious form, a quiet fire burning in his gaze.

"Todoroki," he said, "encase them in ice, please."

Ice began to form around the bodies of the two villains, encasing them completely so that only their head was visible. Everything else was covered beneath thick layers of ice.

We stared at Izuku in absolute shock. _How long had that been? Barely five minutes? Maybe even less?_

He shrugged, "Like swatting a fly. What's next?"

**Green**

**Izuku**

"**One for All: 80%!"**

I blasted off towards Esdeath at blistering speeds, fuelled by my rage. I was holding back nothing from the start. _I'm going to make this woman regret crossing me._

Esdeath was barely able to throw up an ice barrier in time. My fist impacted a wall of ice, several tens of meters thick, but it still instantly disintegrated into shards of ice. Behind me, Todoroki had already engaged Kurogiri, sending blasts of ice at the villain, who kept warping out of the way.

"So forward," Esdeath smirked, leaping back a distance away, "You know women don't like men who come on too strong, right?"

I replied with a gale of force sent her way.

She dodged to the side, a wave of ice forming beneath her boots. They trailed towards me, turning into spikes that rose from the ground. With a flick of my fingers, I created a cannon of air that blasted the spikes to pieces, and even pushed Esdeath off balance for a bit.

She righted herself almost immediately, using constructs of ice to help her maintain balance.

"You weren't this strong yesterday," she panted, the physical exertion of such rapid usage of Quirks catching up to her, "were you holding back?"

"Of course I was holding back," I told her, "I didn't want to _kill_ you by accident."

Her eyes widened at my declaration. "Magnificent," she breathed, "You continue to surpass my every expectation. As expected of the man I have my eyes on."

"Flattery won't get you anywhere, you psycho bitch," I spat, "you killed Thirteen-sensei. Don't think you can get away with this."

"Aw, such hurtful words," she pouted, "you'll make a girl cry."

She suddenly hurled a dagger made of ice at my face. My hand snapped up to crush the projectile mid-air, but her intention was to distract me.

"Got you," she grinned, before a pillar of ice slammed into me from underground. It launched me into the air, flying towards the dome-ceiling of USJ. Esdeath leapt up after me, long blue tresses fluttering behind her. It kind of frustrated me how beautiful she looked even when trying to murder you.

However…

"Attacks of this magnitude can't damage me," I stated coldly. Slamming both fists behind me, I forcefully changed vectors, flying back towards the ground, towards the incoming Esdeath. I silently prepared the smash that would end this farce of a fight for good.

Esdeath smirked, bringing her hands up to form a triangle at chest level. The tattoo on her chest began to glow blue.

"_**Mahadoma."**_

I didn't understand what happened. One moment she was still a distance away from me, the next she seemed to have teleported directly in front of me. A spear of ice was lodged through my chest, and my arms and legs were both frozen.

She leaned in really close and pecked me gently on the lips.

"The thing is," Esdeath said, staring lovingly into my eyes, "I was holding back yesterday, too."

I smiled at her, a trickle of blood leaking from the corner of my mouth.

"A man who can smile the moment before his death," Esdeath said, "I haven't seen a man like that before. You truly are a one of a kind, Izuku. Makes me kind of sad, really. I really wanted to see what you look like when you let loose completely. It would have been such a majestic sight."

"Who said I was dying?" I said, giving her a feral smile.

"**You should have gone for the head."**

One for All surged, and I easily broke out of my icy confinements.

"Plus Ultra," I intoned, staring at the shocked woman, before punching her in the solar plexus, sending her spiraling down into the earth below.

"Bitch."

Todoroki was still fighting Kurogiri, who seemed to be having fun teleporting around the attacks of the frustrated teen. I decided to help him out, using One for All to send me flying towards the villain. I was able to catch the villain off guard, and with a well-placed smash to the metal construct around his neck, he was neutralized as well.

As I fell back towards the ground, I discretely took out a syringe from within my utilities belt pouch of my hero costume. It was designed by Melissa as a special tool to help collect Quirk samples from. I jabbed it into Kurogiri and harvested a little bit of blood from him. Apparently, there WAS a body beneath all that mist. Melissa could probably do something with this. Pocketing the spoils, I landed on the ground heavily, cratering the floor slightly. I tossed the villains close together and had Todoroki encase them in ice. I briefly considered 'harvesting' Esdeath as well, but decided that it would be too risking with all these eyes on me.

I turned to Momo, who was gaping at me. Besides her were Mineta and Jirou.

"Like swatting a fly," I told them, "who's next?"

I pulled the spear of ice out of my chest, wincing a little at the sensation of a breeze flying through the hole in my chest.

Jiro gasped, her headphone jacks flailing wildly, at the sight of my injury.

"Midoriya! Your chest…"

I waved off her concern. "It's fine, I'm already healing. See?"

The wound was steaming slightly, as tendrils of muscles seemed to twist themselves together into a heart, before muscles formed over the organ, covering it from view. The tissue damage was easy to repair, but the damages to the ribcage would take longer to heal. Esdeath's ice spear managed to penetrate through the thick bone plating beneath my torso, which was a testament to just how powerful she was. If I hadn't had One for All, and if I hadn't possessed a second heart, she would've killed me with that last move of hers.

_What was that? _I wondered. It was like she teleported, or something. _But her power is ice manipulation,_ I thought, _or does she have multiple Quirks? If so, that means the person she's working for is…_

_ All for One._

This could be really bad. I smell a horrible conspiracy behind this attack. _All Might needs to know as soon as possible. But for now…_

I turned towards the sounds of combat in the distance.

"Let's go round up the rest of these chumps."

**Green**

Most of the small fry villains had been taken care of by the time we arrived. The ones that were left were the ones that possessed slightly dangerous Quirks, but it looked like my classmates were handling them fine, for the most part. Most of us had teamed up into pairs or trios to fight one villain. The hand villain, standing next to the weird black doppelgänger of me, was currently glaring at me through the holes in his mask.

"You cheated," He growled, "you cheated! How was I supposed to know there was a hidden boss like you amongst the student body! Esdeath didn't report that you were this strong!"

"Esdeath didn't know I was this strong, either," I lightly replied, "And now she's paid the price for it."

"You'll regret this," snarled the villain, "I'll make sure you do."

"Right, right," I dismissed his threat, "Stop the pointless blustering already. Can we get to the point? Seriously, it's like you villains read off a script or something."

"Nomu," he growled, "teach this boy a lesson."

The hulking monstrosity (albeit a handsome one due to it having my face) stepped forward.

"Midoriya," Aizawa's voice caused me to snap in his direction, "Be careful. It's a lot stronger than it looks."

Our homeroom teacher looked to me in horrible shape. His arms and legs were both bent beyond recognition, and I could see Sero beside him frantically trying to stem the blood loss with tape.

"Aizawa-sensei!" I let out a concerned shout.

"Don't worry about me," he gasped, "just don't die. I order you as a teacher to not die. Otherwise I'll go to heaven myself to fail you there, understood?"

"Yes sir."

"Get out of here with that disgusting sappy hero shit," the hand villain spat, "Nomu! What are you waiting for? Attack!"

The abomination seemed to be hesitating slightly, however. It looked at me curiously, the dumb mindless look still in place, but there was a glint of… _something_ more, hidden behind it's eyes.

"Nomu!" The third command rang out sharply. Whatever signs of intelligence was immediately wiped out as Nomu gave out a terrifying roar. It rushed towards me at a blinding speed, but I was easily able to track it. I met its punch straight on with a punch of my own, the force of our clash creating a ripple of force around us. The muscles on Nomu's arm rippled a bit, but surprisingly it wasn't forced back.

_What? That was a 50% punch?_

"Surprised?" came the voice of the hand villain, "Nomu here was engineered specifically to combat someone like All Might. Not only does it possess of super strength Quirk as well as a super regeneration Quirk, it also has the ability of 'Shock Absorption'! His genetic makeup was bioengineered using DNA harvested from you, Izuku Midoriya!"

I had already suspected on some level, but hearing it confirmed still gave me a shock.

"How were you able to get my DNA?" I demanded. The villain laughed.

"It was all too easy. So many samples of you have been harvested over the ten year period you were under research that I'm surprised more villains haven't stolen them yet. Your DNA is quite the precious commodity, actually."

"They promised it would be held under the tightest possible security," I said.

"Please. That means nothing in a world of Quirks. A safe is only as tight until it meets the Quirk that unlocks it."

Nomu roared in confrontation, lashing out with a punch that sent me staggering back a few steps.

"Nomu is a killing machine, able to tank blows from the likes of All Might. Nomu, why don't you show your _father,_" he said that last part mockingly, "how you shatter his skull, hmm?"

"Let him try."

Nomu and I began to trade blows at blistering speeds, the speed and force of our blows pushing back everyone around us. Tempest-like winds buffeted the surroundings, as our fists began to blur from the speed.

"You said his Quirk was shock absorption, not nullification. That means there's a limit to what it can handle. I just have to punch it at a force beyond what it can absorb."

Slowly, the Nomu began to be forced back. First it dropped to one knee, then to both knees, until eventually I broke through its guard and began to pummel it into the ground. It tried to regenerate its wounds, but I knew my body well. I knew every weakness it had. I shattered the bones in its arms first, then its legs, then the spine. Blood and gore spattered all over my costume, but I didn't let up. I knew that what I had to do was to exhaust Nomu's regenerative powers, which most likely drew on its stamina. Finally, it seemed like I hit the breaking point, as Nomu kind of just… _powered down._ The light in its eyes dimmed slightly, and it slumped in defeat. I could tell it was still alive, although barely.

The hand villains eyes was alight with fury, but at the same time, I could tell his gaze held fear in them.

"You may have won this battle," he growled, "but we'll see who wins the war."

"It's definitely not going to be you," I said, "because I'm definitely bringing you in after this. Give up, you're outgunned _AND_ outnumbered."

"Yes," he said, "that is true. But, you're forgetting one thing. KUROGIRI!"

A black mist emerged behind him as Kurogiri dragged his damaged body through the gate. Esdeath, holding herself up with a crutch made of ice, was beside him.

"Get us out of here," snapped the hand villain.

"No!" I gasped, but it was too late. My fingers was inches away from the portal before it closed up. I was left with these haunting words.

"I'll carve the name Tomura Shigaraki into your soul, I swear it. Beware, Izuku Midoriya…"

My fingers wrapped around empty air.

"Shit!" I cursed, "they're gone."

The USJ gates chose this time to open.

"**I AM HERE… WITH THE REST OF THE TEACHERS! FEAR NO MORE, FOR… eh? Is it over already?"**

All Might's booming voice rang out. A panting Iida stood, hands on both knees, drenched completely in sweat.

"I have to returned," he wheezed, "with… the teachers."

"You're kind of late to the party," Jiro announced, "We kind of already took care of everything.

I discretely harvested the blood of Nomu from my suit while everyone else brought Aizawa and Thirteen to emergency treatment. I wasn't too optimistic about the latter, but one could hope. Staring at the vial of blood in my hands, I could feel the beginnings of an idea churn in my head.

_Maybe…_

**Green**

As the teachers fussed over the other students, All Might walked over to me. He placed a hand on my shoulders, leading me off towards the side.

"I'm sorry for not being there," he apologised, heavily wracked with guilt, "I got caught up fighting Trapezius Traphead and ran out of time."

"Don't worry," I said, "I handled it for you. No student was seriously hurt."

"Yes, good job." All Might congratulated, "You protected your friends magnificently."

"Can you tell me what happened? From the start?"

I reiterated the events of the villain attack, starting from Esdeath's betrayal all the way to Nomu, at the end.

All Might frowned, "It's worrying. From your description, it seems like there's a high chance that All for One might be behind this. And this Nomu… it seems more questions are raised than answered with these clues."

I nodded.

"Speaking of the Nomu…" I started, "I have an idea. It's so crazy it might just actually work."

"I'm listening, Young Midoriya."

"Not here," I shook my head, "I'll find you later. Too many ears here."

All Might nodded.

"Very well," he conceded, "I shall await you in my office after school."

Perfect. That gave me time to prepare, too. I needed to make a few calls. I walked away from my master, pulling out my phone and beginning to dial in the numbers for a certain blonde friend of mine…

_Later on in the day…_

I knocked on the door to All Might's office.

"Come in."

I walked into a normal looking office. It was sparsely furnished, but still managed to look comfortable and homely. Dotted on the shelves were some pictures of All Might and some of his accolades.

"Young Midoriya," All Might greeted, "you're here."

"Yes," I gave him a smile, "and I have something for you."

"For me?" He parroted, blinking in confusion. He was currently in his normal form, since there was just the two of us.

"Like a gift?"

"Better," I said, "like a cure."

All Might looked confused for a moment, but as the weight of my words settled in his eyebrows seemed to raise in proportion.

"What?" he exclaimed, "what do you mean? Explain yourself, please, Young Midoriya." There was a hint of cautious hope in his voice.

"The Nomu I found today had an amalgamation of three Quirks," I said, "Super Strength, Super Regeneration, and Shock Absorption."

"As you know, Melissa and I figured out months ago that One for All had the ability to stockpile Quirks."

All Might nodded, "Yes, you demonstrated to me your mother's telekinesis the morning after. I was extremely surprised, I recall."

Then All Might caught onto the hidden message in my words, "Wait, you couldn't possibly mean…?"

"Well, you still have the embers of One for All in you," I said, "there's no reason to think that its function would differ in any way just because the core of the Quirk is no longer within you."

"Young Midoriya," All Might whispered, "Do you truly believe this has a chance to work?"

"I called Melissa, and she backs me up. She even helped me with isolating the Quirk-Metagene from behind the screen. If this works," I looked into his eye, "you'll no longer be limited by the three hours a day rule."

"Alright," he conceded, "I trust you. What must I do?"

I pulled out a small metal case from my bag. When I opened it up, there were three small vials of serum inside. Two of them were synthesizsed from Nomu, while the last was synthesised from Kurogiri. I handed a Nomu one to All Might.

"Eat this." I couldn't resist the throwback.

He grinned at me, and chugged the serum, throwing his head back.

"Bleurgh," he made a face, "that is _vile_."

I watched him carefully for any reactions. "How do you feel?" I asked.

"I…" he began, "feel _energised. _Like someone who had been walking through the desert suddenly getting a mouthful of cold, clean water."

That was probably One for All at work, 'eating' the Nomu's abilities, for lack of a better term. All Might began to steam slightly, and not because he was transforming into his muscle form. Muscle seemed to return to his body, as his gaunt, skeletal frame began to fill out, inflating like a balloon. The transformation took about ten minutes to complete, but at the end of it, a powerful-looking, middle-aged man gazed back at me with shining blue eyes.

"Young Midoriya," he choked, pulling me into a bear hug. He transformed into his muscle form, patting me emotionally on the back. "You miracle worker… you!" He seemed too emotional for words. I admit, I felt a little emotional, too. It was always a sad thing, seeing your idol fall to the degree he did, but I was glad I was able to reverse that.

"Choosing you as my successor was the best decision I ever made in my life."

He patted me heavily on the shoulder.

"Thank you."

"Anytime, master," I smiled back. "It's only right for a disciple to help his master, after all."

He looked at the case in my hand.

"There are two more serums, I see," he stated.

"Yes. This one is another Nomu serum, and this one I got from Kurogiri, the villain with the Warping Quirk."

All Might nodded, "They both have powerful Quirks. I don't have an issue with you using these to obtain more Quirks, but please be careful. This is straying closely to All for One's territory. I don't want you becoming like him, a madman with nothing in his mind besides the pursuit of power."

"I will," I nodded, "I'll keep your words in mind."

"Try not to use those Quirks you obtained in public," All Might instructed, "it'll be too hard to explain. Only reveal your hidden cards in emergencies."

"Got it."

I took the remaining two serums right then and there, in the office. It felt like an injection of power into my veins. I closed my eyes, and felt the power 'settle down' inside me. Reaching out one hand, I concentrated. Slowly, a purple mist-like substance began to emerge from my skin, slowly forming into a gate in front of me. Keeping my destination in mind, I walked through the gate, only to reappearing from behind All Might's desk, about five meters away from my original position.

"It worked," I exclaimed happily.

"It's a very versatile Quirk," All Might nodded appreciatively, "You'll be able to put it to good use."

He took a look at his watch. "Oh, my, look at the time," he said, gesturing to the time keeping device. "It's nearly six. You should head home soon, Young Midoriya. You've had a long day."

"Yes, sir." I bowed respectfully to him. "I'll be taking my leave, then."

I was eager to test out the capabilities of my Quirk. Placing the mental image of my house firmly in my mind, I began to slowly construct a gate that should warp me directly in front of the house.

"See you tomorrow, sir!" I gave him a bright smile as I walked through the gate.

"Have a safe trip, Young Midoriya."

I waded through the black mist, emerging through the other side to step on concrete.

"It wor–" The words died in my throat as I took in the scene before me. The smile on my face froze in place.

My house–no, what _used_ to be my house– was in ruin. Large pillars of ice penetrated through the building, and the entire house looked like some demented giant baby had trampled on it. Shards of ice lay broken around the yard, and the entire second floor of the house had collapsed on itself. A crowd of neighbours had gathered around the scene of disaster, crowding around the entrance. Bright yellow tape had encased the perimeter of the house, and crawling through the wreckage were a bunch of men and women in uniforms.

A raw scream tore itself out of my lungs.

"_Mom!"_

**Green**

**AN: It seems like revenge came a lot sooner than you thought, Midoriya. What's happened to dear old Mrs. Midoriya? Is she dead? Who knows? One things for sure, Izuku's definitely not going to be happy the next time he sees Shigaraki and Esdeath. **

**Moving on, it seems like the UA Sports Festival is next. That's going to be a big arc, so I'm going to take like a few days off to think about everything. Also, I need to think about how Izuku and the people around him are going to react to this latest tragedy. It's a really good time for our main pairings to bond, so I'll definitely take advantage of that. I want him and Momo to bond, but I also want Melissa to come back into the story. Anyone have any suggestions on how I could do that? I have an idea, but it's pretty stupid so I'd like to hear your thoughts first.**

**By the way, Izuku is just slowly becoming more and more OP, isn't he? He now has: One for All, his mom's Quirk (from now on named Pull), an extra Strength Enhancer, Regeneration Enhancer (beyond his already OP Primarch regeneration powers), Shock Absorption, as well as Kurogiri's Warp Quirk. I'll be surprised if anyone can even touch him, at this point, barring monsters like All for One. This, coupled with the biological immortality granted to him from his physiology (which he doesn't know about), makes him well on his way to becoming... well, a god. For all intents and purposes, at least. **

**I'll keep an eye on the reviews. If you guys spot any deficiencies, let me know and I'll try to fix it. I'm not perfect, and I'm an amateur writer, so I don't catch every mistake on the first glance.**

**Keep supporting this fic, and know that your reviews motivate me to write more.**

**Dollarboy, out.**


	9. Chapter 9: Sports Festival Build-up

Chapter 9: Pre-Sports Festival

**Green**

**Izuku**

I dropped my bags and sprinted into the wreckage, unconsciously activating my Quirk.

"Hey, you can't be in here!" cried one police officer, but I sped past him like a green phantom. My hearts felt like they were pounding in my throat, and cold sweat had broken out all over my body. My hands felt clammy and wet, and my breathing was rapid and uneven.

_Please, please let her be alright._

I dashed into the ruins of my once beautiful home, hopping over remnants of walls and furniture. The living room and the kitchen were a wreck, debris spread out chaotically over the floorboards. I didn't care about the mess, but rather anxiously scanned the scene for signs of blood. All I saw was an officer with a dog-head sniffing around the scene.

_Not here._

I headed upstairs, searching through every single room. Some of them were closed off from the collapsed ceiling, but I forced my way through with brute strength.

_Not here, not here, not here either…_

With each failure to locate my mother, my anxiety levels spiked.

_Where the hell could she be?_

The last room I checked was the master bedroom. _Her_ room. Already, a sense of doom had pervaded my entire being. From beyond the door, I could already smell the overwhelming stench of blood. I felt bile rush up into my mouth from the nausea I was experiencing right now.

_Please, _I begged whatever God there was, _don't let me find her body in there._

With trembling hands, I pushed open the door, peering inside fearfully. My stomach immediately dropped. I bent over and threw up where I stood.

Within the room, painted on the walls with fresh blood, was a message.

_Remember me forever. T._

No. No, no, no. Not her. Not my mother.

I staggered into the room, wiping bile from the corner of my mouth. There was no body, which both relieved me and terrified me. _They have her._

They fucking had my mother. **Tomura Shigaraki kidnapped my mother. Esdeath kidnapped my mother.**

Replacing the nausea and the fear was a towering sense of anger and hatred.

How dare they!? HOW FUCKING DARE THEY!?

From the doorway came a stern voice, "Hey kid, you can't just barge into a crime scene–"

"**GET OUT!"** I roared, unleashing One for All in it's entirety. The limiter around my neck started sparking and smoking, the circuitry unable to withstand the torrent of power that was fuelled by my rage. With a snap, it shattered, allowing the full impact of One for All to rush out impeded. A wave of force was released angrily, like a tsunami, and buffeted the surroundings with an insurmountable pressure. The dog-headed man who was standing by the door was blasted through the walls, rocketing out the house and landing heavily on the ground outside. Winded, but alive. The fragile foundations of the house, already weakened from the battering it took earlier, finally collapsed fully, bringing the entire building crashing down. I stood proudly among the wreckage like an unparalleled deity of destruction. The waves of pressure emanating from me made clear my displeasure at the _sheer gall_ of the mortals who dared to intrude in my territory.

All of the officers who had previously been investigating the house, including the dog-headed man, were currently on their knees, gasping for breath. The bystanders had long since dispersed, sprinting away in fear. Intellectually, I knew that they had nothing to do with this. In fact, they were only trying to help. But I was just so **angry,** so full of **rage**, that I just wanted to lash out at the world.

Lash out at the world that dared to take my mother from me. Lash out at everyone and everything. I wanted to crush bone, to rend flesh, to drink blood. My fists clenched at my side. _It would be so easy to kill everyone here right now…_

"Halt," called a new voice, "whoever you are. Cease your actions right now. You are surrounded by pro heroes. If you do not surrender willingly, we will be forced to subjugate you with force."

I turned my head to glare at the new source of my ire. A man, with skin made out of wood, and a wooden mask, crouched on a pole by the street. I recognised him as Kamui Woods. Next to him, already in her giant form, was Mt. Lady. I recognised Death Arms as well. The three of them were glaring at me, already in combat-ready forms. Their expressions were tense and focused, ready to spring into action the moment I decided to do anything.

Seeing them, seeing the heroes so guarded against me, brought me out of my rage a little. _They're scared,_ I realised, _of me._ The epiphany was so shocking that the pressure I was exerting let up immediately, causing the officers on the ground to gasp and finally start breathing again.

This wasn't who I am. I wasn't a… a _villain._ The rage left me that instant, leaving only emptiness and sorrow. I raised both my hands slowly in surrender, showing the tense heroes I was unarmed.

"My name is Izuku Midoriya," I called out, "A resident of this house. I'm not going to fight."

They glanced at each other uncertainly.

"I'll come quietly," I added, "no fuss."

I let Kamui Woods bind me. It would make them feel more at ease, and it wasn't like I couldn't break out of them in a instant anyway.

"We're still going to have to take you in," He said, "Just in case."

"I understand," I nodded, " Lead the way."

**Green**

"Young Midoriya," I raised my head to All Might's voice, "Thank goodness you're all right! I came as soon as I heard."

I was currently seated in an interrogation room within the Musutafu Police Department, cuffed to the table. It was more symbolic than anyway, because everyone knew that if I wanted to break out the cuffs were definitely not going to stop me.

"What happened?" He asked, stepping into the room. I shrugged. I wasn't feeling like talking at the moment.

Behind him was the dog-eared officer from earlier.

"Well, it seems like this was all a big misunderstanding," the officer spoke up, "this young man broke into the crime scene unannounced, and then proceeded to run around rampantly. When we tried to stop him, he unleashed a wave of pressure that destroyed the building and paralysed every unit on the field."

All Might nodded.

"But given that his story checks out, we decided to write this whole thing off. The entire department grieves for you," the man stated, looking at me with pitying eyes. "We're sorry for your loss."

I stayed silent. I didn't want to talk to anyone. I didn't want to see anything. I just wanted to curl up and cry.

All Might gave a huge sigh, turning to the man, "Thank you, detective. May I have a moment with Young Midoriya here, privately?"

"Of course. Take all the time you need."

He retreated out of the room. All Might sank wearily into the seat across of me, looking at me in worry. He didn't speak, nor did I offer to spark up a conversation, so the room was left in silence.

"It's not your fault," he started, after a while.

"You can't blame yourself."

I gave a bitter laugh.

"Can't I?" I said, "I was the one who let them escape today. If I had just gone in for the kill immediately, none of this would have happened. My mother would still be here."

I glanced up at All Might, "They took her, sensei. They took my mother." I said brokenly. He flinched.

"How can I possibly not blame myself?" I sank my face into my palms, breathing heavily through my nostrils.

All Might was silent for a long time. It felt like he was struggling to figure out what he wanted to say. I didn't care. I was too busy stewing in my own misery.

"I know a little bit about what you're feeling right now," he said, "The rage. The anger. The despair. The helplessness."

"All for One took the woman I treated as a mother away from me when I was not much older than you, too."

I glanced up at him in surprise. I had never heard this story before.

"Back then I was a ball of rage. I wanted to seek revenge immediately, without regard for the law or anything. But Gran Torino stopped me. He beat the shit out of me, then he grabbed my shirt and said, 'Save your power.'"

All Might looked at me, "That was the reason I went to America. I needed to train, to become more powerful, to hide my strength until I was strong enough to face All for One."

"So I understand your frustration, your urgency, your restlessness, Izuku," he said, "but you cannot go seek revenge right now. Your anger is still too hot, the wound too fresh; you would inevitably do something you'll regret."

"I can't possibly do nothing," I protested, "they have my mom. They could be doing anything to her, right now. I have to save her."

"Yes, Inko Midoriya must be rescued with all haste," he agreed, "but leave that to the pro heroes. Leave that to the police department."

"I can't," I said, "I can't trust anyone with this. This is too important."

"That is exactly why you must leave this to others," said All Might, "you are too close. It will blind you."

"What's the point of having all this power if I can't use it to save who I want?" I smashed the table, causing it to break down the middle. All Might didn't bat an eye.

"What's the fucking point of any of this? Why–" I started sobbing, "Why was I playing pretend hero at school while they hurt my mom? Why didn't I go straight home today? I should've been there to protect here."

"I failed her." I closed my eyes, internally imagining the agonized screams of my mother as Shigaraki tortured her.

"Izuku–" All Might gazed at me with sorrowful eyes.

"Stop telling me to sit back and do nothing!" I yelled, standing up from my seat, "I'm going after them, no matter what."

"You cannot," All Might said, "You are still just a student. Not a hero. You are not allowed to use your Quirk to fight. It is against the law."

"Screw the law right now! My mother's life is in danger."

"That is not the hero way–"

"Saving my mother IS the hero way!"

"Then you need to redefine what it means to be a hero, right here, right now," All Might was incomparably serious when he said this.

"I had hoped to leave this lesson until a few years into the future, but it seems like time doesn't wait for anyone," he jabbed a finger into my chest, "A hero's smile is like no other. We don't smile because we are happy, because we are joyful. No, that is the smile of a normal person, a civilian. Our smile is an attitude, a uniform, like the suits we put on to combat evil every single day. It is a symbol of peace, of strength, of safety. My master once passed these words down to me: A person who can smile is the strongest. Do you understand?"

"Ask yourself this: Is a hero someone that will ignore the law at the drop of a hat when it suits him? What is a hero to you? What is justice to you?"

Every question was punctuated by another heavy jab into my chest.

"As your predecessor, I can give you power, and guidance. But I cannot, and will not, teach you how to be a hero. That is something you must figure out for yourself."

He turned and stepped out the door.

"I'll be outside. Come find me when you think you have an answer."

He shut the door behind him. I collapsed onto my seat, staring down at my hands.

_What is a hero to me?_

Before, it had seemed so black and white. A hero defeats villains and upholds justice. It was that easy. But now the illusion had been shattered, and I began to realize that it wasn't all so simple.

For the first time in my life, I felt the true weight of justice settle on my shoulders. I could go and look for my mother right now, ignoring the law. I had the power and resourcefulness to do it, I was sure. But I would be going against the law to do it. I would be throwing away my dream of being a hero. I would be turning my back on All Might's legacy.

I covered my face with my palms. My shoulders started to shake, and I felt drops of warm liquid trail down my hands.

_Why the hell was this happening to me? Why couldn't God just give me a break?_

Everything had been going so well today, too. The heroes routed the villains, that should've been the happily ever after. _But real life isn't like that._ _Real life has consequences,_ said a dark voice in my head.

I was torn with indecisiveness. _What do I do?_

_Is a hero someone that will ignore the law at the drop of a hat?_ All Might's words rang in my head, _A person who can smile is the strongest._

My fists clenched at my side.

_Very well._

I will trust the heroes this time.

**Green**

**Momo**

Izuku hadn't been in class today, and that made me slightly worried. Not many people noticed, or if they did they didn't say anything. Morale was still high after our victory yesterday, and Aizawa-sensei was even well enough to come teach homeroom today, albeit heavily wrapped in bandages. Izuku's empty chair was left unmentioned.

At the end of the day, after Aizawa's surprise announcement about the upcoming Sports Festival in a week, I headed to the teachers lounge.

Knocking on the door, I waited until I heard a voice saying 'come in!' before I turned the knob.

"Young Yaoyorozu?" All Might blinked in surprise at seeing my figure standing hesitantly by the door. "How may I assist you?"

"Um," I wasn't sure how to phrase the question, "I just wanted to inquire about my fellow classmate Izuku Midoriya. He hasn't been in class today, and he's not been replying to any of my messages or returning my calls. I'm quite worried about him."

All Might winced a little, making me tilt my head in curiosity.

"Ah," he said, "Young Midoriya has been met with an unfortunate accident last night. He has requested a day of leave, and the school has seen fit to grant it to him."

"What? Is he alright? What happened?"

All Might sighed, "I suppose you'll all find out eventually. No harm in telling you now."

"Last night, Izuku's house was attacked by the same villains from USJ. They destroyed his house, and kidnapped his mother. We don't know if she's alive or not."

I gasped, putting my hands over my mouth. _My god–! Poor Izuku!_

"How–What–" My voice wavered, "Where is he? How can I find him?"

_That man needs someone by his side right now._

"He's temporarily living in a hotel right now," All Might said, "I can give you the address if you want."

"Yes, please." He scribbled something down on a note and passed it to me.

"Young Yaoyorozu," he said as I turned to walk out, "Please be gentle with him. He's gone through a lot these few days."

"Of course. You can count on me."

_Hang in there, Izuku. _

_Later…_

Pulling up to the address stated in the note, I noticed that it was a dingy little place in the outskirts of Musutafu. I frowned a little at the condition of the building. It had chips of paint falling off from the bricks, and the décor needed serious improvement.

"Is the guest in room 27 still in?" I asked the reception desk.

"Sure," the clerk grunted, "hasn't left all day."

"Thank you."

Walking up to room 27, I hesitated a bit, before buzzing the bell. There was silence for a few minutes, before a muffled voice from behind the door answered, "_who is it?"_

I recognized the voice of my 'boss' immediately.

"It's me, Momo," I said, "Can I come in?"

The other side was silent, before the lock slowly turned and he opened the door warily.

"How did you find me?" He asked. "I made sure to turn off my phone."

"I asked," I said, "All Might gave me your address."

He rolled his eyes, "Of course he did." He said, slightly exasperatedly.

"May I come in?"

"Sure."

He moved aside to let me in the room. The inside was… well, a hotel room. Nothing special, really. There was a small TV that was off, a bed, a desk, and a bathroom. That was it. I noticed Izuku was still in his school uniform. I wrinkled my nose a bit.

"You stink," I said, "Are you still wearing the clothes from yesterday?"

He gave me a wry glare, "Well, I don't really have a choice. Everything else was destroyed last night. I only have what's on my back right now."

I deflated slightly at the reminder of last night's tragic events. "Oh, right," I said despondently, "I'm sorry for bringing it up. You must be feeling awful right now."

Izuku shrugged, "I've… had time to cool down a bit." He gave a wan smile, "It's out of my hands for now."

"I'm surprised you can still find the energy to smile despite the circumstances." I said.

"Hmph," he gave a low, mirthless chuckle, "A person who can smile is the strongest."

He gave me a wide smile that was so fake it shattered my heart to pieces.

"Oh, Izuku," I cooed, stepping forward and wrapping him in the biggest hug I could manage. It was tough wrapping my arms around his six foot plus frame, but he didn't resist, which made it easier. I pulled his head down to my bosom, wrapping my arms around his neck and shoulders, rubbing the back of his head in small, soothing circles. His arms came up to wrap around my waist. We stood there, breathing through the moment. I could smell the faint scent of shampoo in his hair, as well as the unique musk that came with all males.

Eventually, we separated,

"Let's get you out of those dirty clothes," I said, "I'll make you new ones."

"Thanks," he replied, "Appreciated."

I turned around and unbuttoned my uniform. A brief glow of light later, a simple, white cotton shirt and a pair of loose, black shorts were folded neatly in my hands. I offered them to Izuku, who took them with a smile of gratitude.

"Thanks," he said, "I'll go change into them right now. Get me out of these smelly clothes."

He walked into the bathroom. About a minute later, he walked out, now decked in the new clothes I made for him.

"They fit you well," I complimented.

"You have a good eye for measurements," he replied, "I'm impressed."

He turned his head slightly, face going a little flush. He scratched his cheeks awkwardly, "Could I, uh, bother you to make something else for me?"

"Of course, anything to make you more comfortable," I immediately agreed. He deserved everything in the world right now. If I could make it, I would.

"I need," he coughed, "a clean pair of underwear, please. The ones I have right now are still dirty so I left it inside with the rest of the clothes."

"Oh," I said, my face warming as well, "I see."

_Wait, does that mean he's not wearing anything beneath his shorts?_

My traitorous eyes flickered towards his junk.

"Um, are boxers fine with you?"

"Yeah, of course."

"Okay, I'll make them for you. What's uh," my face was definitely flaming red by now, "What's your size?"

_Oh god, Momo, just ask him in the most awkward possible way._ _Please._

"I don't know," he seemed uncomfortable too, "large?"

"I don't _know_ what that means," I snapped in embarrassment, "you need to show me."

He gaped at me. "What?"

I realized how he could have interpreted that.

"No," I quickly backtracked, "not literally. Just, show me with your hands."

He mimed something in the air.

"Wow," my eyes bugged out slightly "really?"

He nodded.

"That's," I swallowed, "quite commendable."

"Can we stop talking about this already?" He snapped, "Just make it, alright?"

"O-oh, of course. One moment."

He went back inside to change. While he was inside, I quickly pressed my palms to my face, only to groan when I felt how _hot_ my cheeks were. They were practically radiators, at this point.

We avoided eye contact like the plague when he came back out, finally. After a short silence, he cleared his throat and said, "Um, take a seat anywhere, I guess. I'm sorry I can't offer you much, but would you like water or something?"

"It's alright, Izuku, you don't have to do anything for me. I'm here for you, today."

"If you're sure." He sat down on the bed, fiddling with his hands. He seemed unsure of what to say.

I sighed and sank down next to him, our combined weights causing a dent in the flimsy hotel mattress. I rested my head against his broad shoulders, and wrapped my arms around his waist in a comforting hug. We stayed like that for a while, simply enjoying each other's body warmth.

Eventually, he spoke up.

"Momo, why are you doing this?"

"Hmm?" I tilted my head up to look at him inquisitively, "What do you mean?"

"This," he gestured vaguely at our entwined forms, "getting close to me, becoming my sidekick, comforting me. Why are you being so nice? We've only just met. I'm practically a stranger to you."

I hummed in consideration at his question.

"Well, for some reason, you don't feel like a stranger," I said, "and I'm doing this because I'm your sidekick. And sidekicks stick by their boss' through thick and thin."

"Is that all the reasons? Just because you're my sidekick?"

"Yeah, that's all."

_I don't know._

"Well, thank you then, for choosing me to be your partner."

"Anytime."

We hugged a little more, but eventually I had to leave.

"I'll come back tomorrow to visit," I said, "Do you think you'll be up for school tomorrow?"

He gave me a tired smile.

"Maybe not tomorrow," he grinned, "But perhaps the day after."

I nodded. "Got it," I said, "I'll take notes for you so you can keep up. By the way, the UA Sports Festival is next week, so you better prepare for that too."

Izuku looked surprised, "So soon?" He asked.

"Well, it looks like I should starting training, then."

"Well, I'll be leaving now. See you tomorrow."

"See you. And, Momo," he grabbed my arm, "Thank you."

I gave him a coquettish wink, "Anytime."

For the following week, I went to visit Izuku at his hotel after school every single day. He'd greet me by the door, invite me inside, and I'd then spend about an hour catching him up on schoolwork. I always brought an extra copy of homework with me so he could do them to. I'd hand them in for him the next day.

After the hour of studying, we'd sit and chat a little bit about the day. I told him that the class had learned of what happened to him, and were all sending him well wishes. He'd ask about my day, and I would tell him about all the shenanigans Class 1A got up to.

"They're a wild and unruly bunch," I told him, "They need their class president to come back to put them in their place."

The green-haired boy would always smile at this, shaking his head.

"Not yet," he'd say, "Just a few more days."

We'd then go training together in preparation for the upcoming festival. He had a lot of ideas for my Quirk, and we tested them out in spars one by one. It was nice having an opponent I could go all out against without fear of hurting.

We spent the week like this, the days passing by in a blur. The time I spent with him quickly became the highlight of the day for me, and I spent every minute of the day in anticipation of the bell ringing, signifying the end of school.

The other girls caught on quickly, of course, a casual question from Asui instantly exposing my whereabouts after school. The girls all gave me sly smiles as I hurried out of class every day, Ashido in particular winking exaggeratedly.

They were still firmly under the delusion that Izuku and I were in a relationship, a rumor that I, to be absolutely honest, didn't really fight that hard to deny. I just sort of left it in an ambiguous state.

Maybe I was secretly hoping, by virtue of everyone else believing it was true, that maybe it might become an actual reality one day. The rest of the week passed by quickly in rose-tinted lens for me.

Which was why I might be forgiven for my shortness of speech and curtness of tone when, on the Sunday before the festival, I walked into Izuku's hotel room to find him in tight embrace with a blonde _bitch._

"Izuku," I began sweetly in a _you-better-have-a-fucking-good-explanation _kind of way, "Who's this?"

He looked up from his embrace and saw me, face breaking out into a smile. I wanted to introduce that smile to some .35mm caliber bullets.

"Oh, hey, Momo," pulling away from the girl, "You're just in time. I wanted to introduce you to my best friend, Melissa."

The blonde girl turned to me, and I swore there were sparks in midair as our gazes clashed.

"Hey, Momo," she smiled, "I've heard _so much_ about you."

"Why don't you have a seat? _Izuku and I_ will be with you shortly."

Oh, that _whore_.

**Green**

**Izuku**

I wasn't quite sure where the sudden smell of ozone in the air came from. All I knew was that I had probably fucked up, but in what way I wasn't sure. This morning, I was woken up from my slumber by the sound of knuckles rapping on wood. I assumed it was Momo at the door, so imagine my surprise when a blonde rocket launched itself at me the moment I unlocked the door.

"Melissa!?" I exclaimed, unable to hold back the surprise and glee in my voice. I joyfully returned the hug she gave me.

"Oh, Izu," she sobbed, "I'm so sorry. I came as soon as I heard the news. What happened to Auntie Inko is… just…"

Melissa and my mother had gotten really close during the brief time she stayed over at my place. She had taken to calling her "Auntie Inko", which was a moniker my mother both loved and hated.

"You can just call me Mom, you know," "Auntie Inko" would always say, to our exasperation.

"Izuku and I aren't like that," Melissa would giggle, playfully swatting her on the arm, "You know that."

"_Yet."_ My mother would always reply, "so what's wrong with starting a little earlier?"

Melissa curled into my arms, sobbing into my chest.

"What are we going to do? What if something horrible happens to her?"

I patted her on the back comfortingly.

"All Might is on the case," I said, "we just have to trust him."

She sniffled, and looked up at me from her position, buried between my arms.

"Are you alright?" she asked, concern evident in her eyes.

"I've had some time to calm down," I said, "but I'm nowhere near ready to let this go."

"I'm going to find the perpetrators, and I'm going to bring them to justice. I swear I won't rest a single night until I do."

Melissa ran a hand through my hair.

"Oh, Izu," she breathed, "I'm sorry I couldn't be here for you sooner."

She threw her hands around me again.

I allowed myself to indulge in her, smelling the citrusy shampoo in the hair.

Melissa was as beautiful as ever, and it was always hard holding myself back when in her company. She used to haunt my dreams every night.

Recently, though, a certain raven-haired girl was making her rounds more and more often in my dreamscape.

It was at this moment, as if summoned by my mind, that Momo decided to grace my humble abode with her presence.

"Izuku," one word was enough to tell me there was going to be hell to pay, "who's this?"

Ohhh, shit. She was mad. Whenever she spoke in that really sweet, demure tone, it was usually a sign of an impending crisis.

Gingerly, I pulled away from Melissa.

"Hey, Momo," faking enthusiasm in my voice, "You're just in time. I wanted to introduce you to my _best friend,_ Melissa."

Normally, Melissa didn't have a problem with me referring to her as my best friend. Today, however, she gave me a dark glare when I said that, for some reason. Her gaze seemed extremely accusing.

"Hey, Momo," the equally as sugary tone of Melissa was faintly ominous, "I've heard so much about you. Why don't you have a seat? Izuku and I will be with you shortly."

Oh yeah. There was definitely trouble. I don't know why, but the temperature in the room had suddenly dropped a hundred degrees. I was almost tempted to look around to see if Esdeath had somehow sneaked in while I was paying attention.

**Green**

The trio of us were currently seated in a circle on the floor. Well, they were sitting cross-legged on cushions, arms crossed and glaring at each other. I had my knees all the way up to my chest, curled protectively in front of me.

My danger senses were tingling.

The silence in the room was getting painfully unbearable, so I took the risk of starting the conversation.

"Not that I'm not glad to see you, Melissa," I began, "but what are you doing here?"

"I-Island has sent over a few representatives this year to the UA Sports Festival to scout the Support Course. I managed to get my hands on one of the positions."

"And since I was so worried, I rushed over immediately to see you, without even checking in to a hotel," she gestured to the pile of luggage's sitting in the corner, "but it seems like it wasn't necessary, huh."

Her attention turned to Momo.

"So why is she here?" If she was trying to disguise the accusation in her voice, she was doing a very bad job.

"I've been keeping Izuku here company every day for the past week," Momo stated, "He was quite inconsolable for the first few nights, and needed a bosom to cry into."

"Oh?" Melissa quirked an eyebrow, "He hadn't mentioned that to me." I ignored Melissa's gaze burning a hole into the side of my head.

"And who are you to him, that he would be willing to cry into your bosom?"

Momo drew her back straight, thrusting her chest out imperiously. It was unfortunate for Melissa, but Momo completely dwarfed her in that department.

"I am his partner," she stated proudly.

"Sidekick," I supplied quickly when Melissa shot a shocked and betrayed look at me, "She's my sidekick."

"Your sidekick?"

"Yeah, it's a complicated story."

"I've got time."

So I told recounted the training incident to Melissa, detailing the fight against Esdeath and how I happened to owed Momo a favor. That eventually led to me establishing Midoriya Inc. and hiring Momo as my 'secretary.'

"But really she's a sidekick."

Melissa gave me an incredulous look at my story. "And when did this happen?"

"Last week."

"And you never thought to TELL me?"

"I don't see a reason why he would need to tell you anything," Momo sniffed from the side, "after all, you are quite removed from Izuku's 'hero' side of things."

"Quite removed?" Melissa adjusted her glasses in outrage, "I _designed_ his costume and his limiter. _I_ was the one who discovered the true power of his Quirk. I–I'm his girl in the chair!"

So hotly was Melissa arguing her case that she missed my warning look completely.

"The… true power of his Quirk?" Momo echoed, a confused look on her face. "What do you mean?"

I glared at Melissa, who paled a bit at her inadvertent slip.

"Uh, nothing," she quickly backtracked, "I just meant that… uh… Izu's Quirk is… _truly_ powerful. That's what I meant."

Momo narrowed her eyes suspiciously, "You realize that dumb excuse only makes it even more obvious you're hiding something, right?"

She turned to me, "What is she talking about, Izuku? What true power?"

I sighed, glaring at Melissa out of my peripheral. She squeaked meekly, looking down into her lap.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, cringing.

"It's fine," I said, "At least it was in front of someone we can trust."

"Izuku?" Momo parroted.

"This is a secret," I started, "to be kept on pain of death. Anyone in the know will be in danger for the rest of their lives. Are you sure you want to know?"

"Does this have something to do with you?" She asked, hesitantly.

"Yes, it does. It has _everything_ to do with me."

"Then I want to know," her lips drew into a determined line, "I already told you, I'm here to support you all the way to the top. I can't do that if you're hiding secrets from me."

Opposite Momo, Melissa looked grudgingly respectful of the raven-haired girls' declaration.

"Very well, then," I exhaled through my nostrils, "It all began nine months ago, when I encountered Sludge Villain right outside Aldera Midde School."

I reiterated my first encounter with All Might to the enraptured girls, detailing how I defeated the villain and was eventually invited to I-Island. Melissa and I then took turns describing Wolfram's schemes at I-Island, culminating in All Might passing his Quirk One for All down to me.

The entire time, Momo listened attentively, positively shocked at the revelations we were giving her.

"So this is the true 'behind-the-scenes' version of the events," she breathed, "I never thought it would be so… fantastical."

She turned to me, "and so many things about you suddenly becomes so clear. The reason why you're so powerful despite being the same age as me. The power to stockpile Quirks," she shuddered, "the implications of that is stunning. And you're saying there's a century old villain with the same power out there?"

"His names' All for One," I reminded her, "and he's All Might's nemesis. All Might's already defeated him once, at the cost of severe injury, but I managed it cure it with Melissa's help recently."

"Amazing," Momo gasped, "I can't believe you're already so involved with heroics even though you're just a student."

"So now you know," Melissa spoke up, "which means you're officially in Izu's inner circle."

"Right," Momo said, "Don't worry, I'll keep this secret for you. It's important, right?"

"Wait, I can do you even one better. I can help you secretly harvest Quirks from others."

"You're willing to do that?" I glanced at Momo in surprise, "It's not exactly ethical, you know. I've only limited myself to 'harvesting' villains' Quirks until now."

"It'll help you become stronger, right?" said Momo, "which means there's no right or wrong. Besides, you need all the power you can get in order to rescue your mom when the time comes, right?"

"Loathe as I am to agree with her, she's right," Melissa said, "now's not the time to hold yourself back. The stronger you are, the better you can protect the people around you from All for One and his allies."

"Fine," I conceded, "you girls are right. I guess there IS a reason I keep you two around, after all."

They both gave me an amused look.

"Excuse me," Melissa arched an eyebrow, "You'd still be dumbly punching things if not for my discovery."

"Right, right," I laughed, "sorry. I'm glad you two are in my life," I amended.

The girls nodded in agreement.

"Alright, so let's do a review of your powers," Momo said, "and figure out what to improve on from here."

"In terms of power, there's no need to improve any further," Melissa said, "he's already strong enough to level mountains with his punches."

"He can regenerate, and now he also has Shock Absorption, so defense is decent, too."

Momo rubbed her chin thoughtfully, "If you had Kirishima's Quirk, that should probably round up your defenses nicely."

"Right now, Izuku can benefit from having some long-range options," Melissa stated, "as well as some more auxiliary powers."

"Well, there aren't a lot of long-range options in our class," Momo said, "the only ones that could really count is Yoarashi and Aoyama. Yoarashi's Quirk, Whirlwind, is quite powerful, so if you got your hands on it it'd serve you really well. Mid-range options include Tokoyami's Dark Shadow, and Todoroki's Half-Cold-Half-Hot. Auxiliary power's…" Momo tapped her chin, "If we could get you some of Aizawa-sensei's DNA, that would grant you his Erasure Quirk. While we're at it, we might as well get you Recovery Girl's ability as well. Give you healing powers, too."

"Those are all great ideas…" Melissa complimented, "Anything else?"

"We were challenged by this one dude, Shinso," Momo said, "from the general course. I was curious about him because he had the balls to come up to our class, alone, to issue a challenge, so I did some discrete research."

"It turns out his Quirk is quite useful. Hypnosis," she said, "if he talks to you, and you respond, you fall under his spell, and he can control your actions."

My mouth gaped open, "That is an absurdly useful power," I said, "how is he in the general course?"

Momo shrugged, "The UA entrance exams aren't very fair on those without direct combat Quirks."

Fair enough.

"Continue," I nodded at her.

"You have a lot of combat abilities, but most of them are extremely powerful or extremely obvious," Momo said, "If you want to hide your secret power, you need something discrete that will get the job done. Aizawa's Quirk and Shinso's Quirk perfectly fit this criteria."

Melissa built on Momo's argument, "And, we know One for All powers up the Quirks it stockpiles over time. Your powers are just going to increase in strength for as long as you live. Eventually, they'll become so destructive you won't be able to use them without fear of destroying everything around you. Having these auxiliary powers will give you a non-violent solution."

Those were all very good points.

"All right," I said, "you've convinced me. For the time being, my next step is to obtain those Quirks."

I looked at the two girls in front of me gratefully, "You two are the most resourceful girls I have ever met," I said. "Please stay by me forever." I meant every word I said.

The two blushed faintly.

"Easy there, tiger," said Melissa, "Don't try to bite off more than you can chew."

"I mean it," I said, "There wouldn't be a me today if it wasn't for you two. You guys are the true heroes."

"I'll stay by you for as long as you'll have me," Momo said coyly , "It's not every day I find a tree with such a big shade to hide under, after all."

"I promised you I'll make you the greatest hero ever," Melissa said, "and I don't intend on backing out of that promise."

"Thank you both. Seriously."

**Green**

"So what's the plan for the rest of the day?" Melissa questioned.

"Uh," I turned to Melissa, "I didn't know you were coming today, actually. I was actually planning on training with Momo to prepare for the Festival tomorrow."

"It seems like you haven't found a hotel yet," Momo said to Melissa, "why don't you get that taken care off? Izuku and I here will continue with our original plan."

Melissa raised an eyebrow at Momo. Her eyes seemed to say, _if you think I'll let you two be alone for even a second you're sorely mistaken._

"Actually, I was planning on staying right here, with Izuku," she turned with me, "you don't mind, of course?"

"Uh, no, of course not. Feel free. There's only one bed, though."

"That won't be a problem. This ain't the first time we've cuddled," she winked suggestively, loving the way Momo's complexion darkened. The smell of ozone was back in the air again, this time stronger than ever, so to prevent a disaster I threw out a suggestion.

"Why don't we scrap the training, and I take you girls out for some fun, hm?" I turned to Melissa, "I know you don't get out of I-Island often, so I could show you around Musutafu, if you want."

Melissa clapped her hands happily, "That sounds grand."

I turned to Momo, "You're welcome to join us," I said, "we'll make a day of it."

"What about training?" she asked.

"We've been training all week," I responded, "Our bodies need a break. If we work you too hard today, it might have the opposite effect on your performance tomorrow."

She acquiesced reluctantly, "Alright. That sounds logical."

"Great," I said, "let's go. Daylight's burning, and all that."

I took them on a tour around Musutafu. Both the girls lived a sheltered life, so there were a lot of sights around the city they had never seen before. I treated them to all sorts of famous local street foods, took them to all the tourist hotspots, and even brought them to visit an aquarium. Momo was particularly enthused about the culinary experience, which made sense because her Quirk required her to burn through lipids. Melissa, on the other hand, took interest in the local sights, especially some of the more traditional temples.

"We don't have temples back on I-Island," she explained, "so I've always wanted to visit one."

By the time we returned to my hotel, the day had long since turned into night.

"It's quite late," I said to Momo, "you should probably head home."

"Yeah," said Melissa, "wouldn't want your parents to worry, and all that. Come on, Izu," she hooked her arms with mine, "you can take the first shower."

"Actually," the ravenette spoke up from behind us, "I already told my parents I would be sleeping over at a friend's house. Would you mind terribly if I crashed here?"

I turned to Momo slowly.

"Uh, I'm a guy, you know," I explained to her, "I don't think that would be appropriate."

She gestured to Melissa, quirking one brow.

"True," I conceded, "but that's because I've known her longer and she's my best friend."

"Didn't you say I was in your 'inner circle'? I'd like to think I've earned your trust, by now."

Well, if she put it that way…

"Alright, I don't mind." I turned to Melissa, who was gritting her teeth in an imitation of a smile.

"Sure," she ground out, "The more the merrier."

We all headed inside my room, and took turns washing up and preparing for bed.

"You two can take the bed," I stated, flipping off the lights one by one, "I'll just sleep on the floor."

"No way," Momo immediately protested, "I can just create a sleeping bag, or something."

"Nonsense," I waved her off, "I couldn't possibly make a lady like you sleep on the floor while I take the bed."

We bickered back and forth, before Melissa's annoyed voice cut over our argument, "Well, why don't you _both_ take the floor, and _I_ take the bed. Case closed."

Saying that, she threw the covers grumpily over herself and fell silent. Momo and I shared an amused look and took her suggestion. With a glow of rainbow light, Momo created two sleeping bags.

"Here," she handed me one.

"This is humongous," I said, "it could easily fit two in there."

She gave me an innocent look.

"You're a big boy," she said, "I just wanted to make sure."

I glared at her suspiciously, but eventually let it go. I was tired, anyway.

"Good night, ladies," I yawned, settling into my sleeping bag.

"Night," were the responses.

I woke up the next morning seeing both raven and blonde locks resting on my chest.

**Green**

_Somewhere unknown…_

Inko Midoriya fluttered her eyes open drowsily. _Where the hell am I…? _She thought. Blinking away the fog in her eyes, she focused her attention to her surroundings. What the…? Why was she bound up?

She seemed to be bound to a bed of some sort, in an unfamiliar room. It was sparsely furnished, and all the furniture was made out of intricately carved wood. A small desk lamp illuminated the room with a soft, yellow glow. However, Inko only dimly registered these details, as most of her attention was focused on the racks upon racks of bladed tools hung on the walls.

"Finally awake, I see," a soft voice drew her panicked attention. Inko focused her eyes on a blue-haired teen, sitting straight-backed on a wooden chair, arms supporting her knee over crossed-legs.

"Hum uh muh?" _Who are you? _She tried to say through the gag in her mouth.

The blue-haired girl reached over and undid the gag, gently brushing her hand over Inko's head.

"My name is Esdeath," she introduced, "I'm a friend of your son."

"Who are you?" Inko gasped, "Why did you bring me here?"

"I'm afraid it wasn't my idea," Esdeath sighed, "I was under orders."

"Orders?" Inko asked, "Who? Who's orders?"

Esdeath smirked, "A very scary man. I am a member of the League of Villains," she rolled her eyes, "Such a stupid name. If only they let me be in charge of the name, I would've called it something cool like 'Jaegers'. But I'm digressing," she turned back to Inko, "as I said, I work for the League. My official title is _**torture specialist**_."

Esdeath leaned forward a little.

"You and I are going to get _very_ friendly in the near future."

**Green**

**AN: Not a lot of action this chapter, but definitely a lot of _interaction_, if you catch my drift. Melissa's finally back, and now she's met Momo. Sparks are definitely flying between the ladies, and not in the fun way, either. **

**We see the reaction of Midoriya to his house, as well as some character progression. What does it mean to be a hero in a world full of superpowers? He has to find out for himself.**

**Next chapter will be the official beginning of the Sport Festival Arc.**

**And lastly, we see a sneak peek of what's going on in the villain side of this. Mama Midoriya is alive, yay! But, things aren't looking too bright for her...**

**What's Esdeath gonna do for her? What's everyone's favorite villain's stake in everything? **

**Find out next time on Green.**

**DollarBoy, out.**


	10. Chapter 10: A New Path

Chapter 10: A new path

**Green**

**Izuku**

The UA Sports Festival was an annual event designed to showcase the abilities and powers of UA students to the general public. In addition to this, it was also a golden opportunity for those students who missed their chance to perform during the entrance exams to prove themselves. As a result, there was an air of tension and fierce competition between the students as the festival drew up.

This years' festival consisted of three parts: a race, a game of cavalry, and a fighting exhibition. The race was absolutely elementary: no one in UA was even able to come close to competing for first place against me, not with One for All's boost to my athleticism. I didn't even have to go 80%.

The cavalry battle and fighting matches were similar. Class 1-A dominated overall; there was a huge difference between those who had experienced and survived a real life-and-death scenario, and those who hadn't. Whether it was in tactics, teamwork, or sheer firepower; 1-A was unsurpassed. Other than me, several people made their way into the limelight. Yoarashi, with his powerful wind Quirk, was able to keep opponents away by erecting powerful wind barriers during the cavalry match, and maintained dominant aerial superiority during his subsequent matches. Todoroki was a crowd favorite, his ice showcasing both versatility and sheer power output. Bakugou struggled initially in the cavalry battle, due to his explosive personality, but thrived in the final matches, demonstrating incredible maneuverability, firepower, and ferocity against tough opponents. He was able to overpower both Todoroki and Yoarashi to make it to the finals against me, although he did take advantage of Todoroki refusing to use his fire.

However, there was nothing Bakugou could do against me. My shock absorption Quirk pretty much nullified the impacts behind his blows, and the explosions weren't nearly enough to break One for All enhanced skin. A single blow was all it took to take him down, much to his later displeasure.

And with that, the festival came to a close, with me being crowned champion amongst the first years by All Might. My sensei looked proud, but slightly amused at the ease with which I dominated the festival.

_**That night…**_

"Congratulations, you two! You both kicked ass out there today!" The girls and I were gathered in my hotel room for a post-festival celebration.

"Thanks, Melissa, but Izuku took most of the limelight today," Momo groused playfully from her spot next to me, nursing a drink in her hands, "I barely got to do anything."

"Hey, don't sell yourself short, Momo," I responded, "You were an integral part of the team during the cavalry battle. Those flashbangs and fake grenades really came in handy keeping the other teams distracted."

"Oh, shut up. It wasn't like you couldn't have flicked them all away anyway, with your ridiculous strength."

"I did, remember? Man, Mineta shot off like a little purple bullet."

We all shared a laugh at the memory. The little hornball had tried to sneak up on Momo with a leery grin and a lecherous look on his face. I quickly foiled whatever dastardly plan he had concocted by blasting him away with a finger flick.

"Oh, how I wish I had a Quirk too," Melissa sighed wistfully, "That way I could be out there, next to you guys."

"You wouldn't have been in our year anyway even if you did have a Quirk, you old hag," Momo commented snidely, "so keep on dreaming."

Melissa froze, and narrowed her eyes at the ravenette, "I'm only three years older than you, you stupid bitch, so if I'm an old hag then you are too."

"Oh, really? One really wouldn't have been able to tell. I would've thought you were already middle-aged, judging by the way you dress like a sexually repressed midwife."

Sensing an impending headache, I quickly played mediator, "Ladies, ladies, let's save the fireworks for later, eh? Why don't we talk business?"

The girls glared at each other, but acquiesced and backed down.

"Here, I was able to gather DNA samples from the people I fought, including Bakugou, Todoroki, and Shinso." I showed the girls my spoils of the day. "Think you can do something with these, Melissa?"

The blonde girl glanced at the glass tubes I was holding out. Each one had a different colored strand of hair inside, and were labelled accordingly.

"Yeah, these are more than enough. What about you, Momo?"

"Hmph. You guys underestimate me. I have, of course, accomplished my duty perfectly," she held out several glass tubes.

"No one suspects the Vice-President. I got Tokoyami's feathers during my match with him. I first blinded him with flashbangs, which neutralized Dark Shadow, then while he was visually and auditorily incapacitated I took advantage of the opportunity to enter close range. I was able to obtain a feather that way."

"Yes," I shuddered slightly at the memory, "But did you really have to beat him with a brick, thought?"

I remembered the shocked silence of everyone in the crowd, including the commentators, when Momo approached the blinded Tokoyami and clocked him repeatedly with a brick, all with a calm and serene smile on her face. Every time Dark Shadow tried to emerge, she would drop a flashbang, sending the poor Shadow entity screeching in hasty retreat. Also, due to the large set of noise-cancelling headphones on her head the entire match, she couldn't hear Tokoyami's screams for mercy either, which prolonged the dark-feathered students' misery. The poor bird boy was probably traumatized for life after that experience.

"I thought it was the most economical choice, given the situation," Momo professed, "Given that I had no idea how many flash grenades I would have had to create. A brick is quick and easy to make, and doesn't require much thinking, so it was naturally my first choice."

"Next, Kirishima was even easier. I just intercepted the medi-bots while they were carrying him off stage after his fight with Testutetsu and harvested his hair right there."

Melissa hummed, and picked up a vial from Momo's hands, regarding it curiously.

"Yo..arashi? Isn't this the dude with the wind Quirk? How'd you get his?"

"His hat. He has one that he likes to wear, so I asked to borrow it for a second. I scraped some skin cells off the inside when he wasn't paying attention."

"Nice," I said, "so now we have Explosion, Hardening, Half-Cold-Half-Hot, Whirlwind, and Dark Shadow. That's almost everything I need, right?"

Momo smirked, "Not so fast, darling. Here's an extra present."

She held up a glass tube. "I went to the classroom after the festival and took this from inside Aizawa-sensei's sleeping bag." A long strand of dark hair was visible through the clear tube.

"This is the famed Erasure Quirk," she said, "with this, you'll pretty much be invincible against Quirk users."

Momo looked at me with an expression that seemed to say _praise me_. She looked so adorable, and I was so excited from the excellent news, that I couldn't help but reach over and sweep her into a crushing hug.

"Eep!"

I brushed my lips against the dark and silky strands of hair atop her head, murmuring, "Ooh, my dear sidekick has worked hard today, hasn't she? Hmm, she deserves a reward all the work she's put in."

"Eh– wait, this is– I'm not ready– _my heart_–" Momo struggled to escape my grip, her face red as a tomato.

I felt a pinch in my sides. Melissa was glaring at me coldly, her face contorted into a slight pout, her eyes as frigid as a blizzard.

I grinned and pulled her in as well, and for a short while the room was filled with shouts of struggle and general chaos as the girls struggled to escape my embrace.

After some roughhousing, we settled down, the girls looking ruffled and disheveled, like disgruntled chicks. They were both giving me the third degree, although the blushes on their faces gave away their embarassment.

"Harumph," Melissa blew a blonde strand away from her face, "Let me get these vials started, then. We'll do the honors tonight." She glanced at me.

"If you please?"

"Sure." I raised my hands, and a black mist emanated from my palms, flowing outwards to form a human-sized portal behind Melissa.

"Pick me up in an hour. I should be done by then."

"Sure."

**An hour later…**

Momo and I had been passing the time by watching the news together. We were curled up on a couch, her body resting against mine, with a blanket wrapped around us. The screen was replaying scenes from the festival earlier today, and we got to see some clips from the higher years as well. Three students in particular garnered my interest: Mirio Togata, Tamaki Amajiki, and Nejire Hado. They were third years this year.

I got a text from Melissa, telling me she was ready to be transported, and a moment later, she appeared through a black portal.

She appeared slightly dissatisfied with the way Momo was curled up against me, but held back from saying anything in lieu of holding up a case.

"This is it."

Momo and I shared a glance, and disentangled ourselves from the couch. Approaching Melissa, I thanked her for her efforts and placed the case on the dining table. Before I was able to open it up, Melissa coughed.

I glanced at her in confusion. She didn't say anything, merely looked at me expectantly in silence. I didn't understand what she wanted, so I turned back to flip open the case.

Another cough, this time more aggressively. Melissa was looking slightly angry this time.

_What does she want?_

I stared at her in befuddlement. Her body posture was strange: it seemed… _expectant._ Like she was waiting for something. From the way her eyes seemed to slide over to Momo, who was standing there beside me, though…

_It can't be._

Was she jealous? Melissa? I couldn't be sure. I opened up my arms hesitantly…?

Only for a blonde missile to launch itself into my chest. It seemed like she was waiting for me to do just that. I silently laughed at the silly antics of this girl. Melissa nuzzled her face into my chest snugly, giving Momo a look of superiority whilst doing so. I sighed in slight exasperation at the sight.

_Seriously, when are these two girls going to get over their rivalry?_

"Alright, enough," Momo eventually stated, "Are we going to do this tonight or what?"

Melissa gave my butt cheeks a cheeky squeeze before darting away.

"Fine, fine."

Inside the case were six vials labelled: Erasure, Explosion, Half and Half, Shadow, Wind, and Voice.

Within each vial was a clear liquid. I was familiar with the song and dance by now.

"Cheers." I told the girls, before chugging down the vials one by one, while the girls watched in silent anticipation beside me.

"Well?" Momo questioned after a while. "How do you feel?"

"Uh, I'm not sure," I said, " I don't feel any different."

Melissa frowned, "Why don't you try doing something? Isn't that the best way to test if everything is as it should be?"

"Here, try using Erasure on me," Momo said, "I'll try creating something."

"Su–" I was about to answer when a wave of nausea hit me like a truck. "Urghf–" My vision swam, and the room began to distort slightly. Rivulets of sweat poured down my face as a burning sensation began to emit from within my body. The pain was indescribable, like a fire had been started inside my body. My blood felt like it was boiling, and a pressure was building up behind my eyes, which felt like they were about to pop out of my skull.

"Izuku? Izuku–!" Melissa's concerned voice sounded far away.

"_Quick… bed… burning up… hurry…"_ Their panicked voices started fading away as darkness engulfed my vision.

**Green**

"**Fool.**"

A voice brought me out of my slumber.

"Wha–? Where am I?" I was standing in a dark expanse. Space seemed to stretch out in all directions infinitely. I couldn't tell what I was standing on, or if I was even standing at all, because it was infinite blackness all the way down(?) too.

"**You are a fool.**"

The same disembodied voice rang out again.

"Who are you? Show yourself!" I cried out into the darkness.

From out of the fabric of darkness, a shadow seemed to emerge.

It had no discernible features beyond glowing eyes, but I was somehow able to tell that it was glaring at me.

"Where is this place? What are you?"

The shadow glared at me.

"**Do you know that your body is in danger of imploding?"**

What?

"**This reckless consumption of power… did you really think it had no side effects?"**

"What do you mean?"

"**One for All is a quirk that was meant to stockpile power **_**slowly**_**. It carefully and meticulously cultivates power over time, granting increased power to the user. It was never meant to have sudden surges of power in such close proximity like what you have experienced."**

** "Your body has a strange composition. If not for this, you would have exploded the first time you ingested foreign quirks into your body. It would have been fine if you kept it to a small number, and if you had given One for All time to digest, but you had to be reckless and greedy, and consume so much at once. Now look at what you've done."**

The shadow gestured behind me. I turned around to let my gaze settle on a pulsating ball of light. Strange spikes were violently protruding from the ball, as if something inside was trying to escape. Somehow, I could feel that the ball was straining to maintain its shape.

"What… is that?" I breathed.

"**That… is One for All, Ninth. It's normally meant to be a **_**ball.**_** Get it? Perfectly even, all around. Now look at it. Can you even tell what shape it is?"**

The shadow sighed in anger.

"**The oscillations and protuberances are formed from an imbalance of powers. If left unchecked, eventually, they will penetrate through the core of One for All."**

"What happens then?"

The shadow affixed one baleful gaze on me.

"**An explosion, the likes of which no one has ever seen before. The combined power of all the previous users of One for All, including the current one, in a single, devastating detonation,"**

I paled. This was sounding really bad.

"Shit. How do I fix this?"

The shadow glared even harder at me.

"**The hell if I know? This is a first for me, too! I never thought there would be a user reckless enough to do something like this!"**

"Well, how long do I have? Before that thing… blows?"

**"Five."**

"Five…what? Months? Weeks?"

**"Four, three, two…"**

"Wait, wait, wait, seriously!? That's all I have!?"

"**Hmph. I was obviously just scaring you. If we do some emergency treatment, we could probably stretch the time limit to roughly three months. You need to figure out a way to fix this before then."**

"Three months!? That's tight! Ugh," I sighed, putting one hand on my forehead. This was my fault. How could I possibly believe that such a convenient ability had no drawbacks? I was blinded by the possibility of power and lost myself. Now I've endangered not only myself, but possibly everyone around me with my recklessness.

"What kind of emergency treatment?"

"**The powers you have right now are like a plate of loose sand. We need to mold them together to create a proper foundation. Keep in mind this is a temporary solution… eventually, they're supposed to all merge into one ball, but for now, we'll have to settle with leaving them broken up in pieces."**

** "As the Ninth, you added nine new quirks to One for All. Try to combine some of them and lower the number. It'll be easier for the core to digest eventually that way."**

"Combine? Like put two Quirks together to make a new Quirk?"

"**Yes. That's exactly what I'm saying."**

"But how do I do that?"

"**What? Afraid of getting your hands dirty? Just get in there and use your hands, you stupid brat."**

The shadow booted me roughly towards the core.

_Ow. You could have just told me, you shitty shadow._

I regarded the pulsating core curiously. Now that I'm observing it closely, I could see… smaller orbs encapsulated within. They had no outward distinction between each other, but I was someone able to tell they were the Quirks I had.

_This one feels like the Portal, this one feels like Hardening, and this one feels like Explosion._

I reached into the core tentatively, and grabbed onto an orb. _Hardening._

I have to combine this with something else right? Let's see what I got.

Regeneration, Portal Creation, Explosion, Shock Absorption, Whirlwind, Fire and Ice, Dark Shadow, Erasure, and Voice Hypnosis. Only Shock Absorption seemed to be compatible at all with Hardening. I put the two orbs together, fusing them into one slightly larger orb. Portal Creation merged with Whirlwind. That left Regeneration, Explosion, Fire and Ice, Dark Shadow, Erasure, and Voice Hypnosis. I could probably combine Erasure with Dark Shadow, and probably Voice Hypnosis too, but those were really powerful abilities and I wasn't sure if I was comfortable handing them off to a sapient shadow that may or may not be under my control.

Retreating from the core, I regarded the shadow once again.

"**Hmph. You could only reduce the numbers by that much?"**

"The rest of them weren't compatible. I don't think I could've combined them even if I tried."

"**Anyway, that's all the help I can give for now. Remember, you'll have three months max…"**

"Is there any hint you can give me? I'll need to start _somewhere._ If not how to fix this, then at least how large an explosion I should expect so I know how far I should be from civilization when the time comes."

It sighed.

"**Well… when I was alive I **_**had **_**heard of an ancient theory. The Five Elements. When combined, the five elements create a cycle that sustains and feeds off itself. Perhaps, if you could complete the cycle…"**

The five elements? I had heard of it before. Fire, Water, Earth, Metal, Wood. Fire begets Earth, which begets Metal, which begets Water, which begets Wood, which begets Fire. The concept was simple, and was an integral part of Asian cosmology and culture in the past.

"**Our time draws to a close, Ninth. Hurry, for the sake of yourself, and others around you."**

"Wait! Before you leave, tell me. Who are you?"

The shadow gave a wistful sigh. "**Survive this, and I'll tell you. It bears a moot point anyway if you die."**

**Green**

"Izuku! Izuku!" I was awoken by frantic shaking.

"Bwuh! Wha–" The worried, tearful gazes of Melissa and Momo greeted me.

"Oh thank god!" The blonde wrapped her arms around me, "I was about to call the ambulance if you hadn't woken up. What the hell happened?"

"Izuku," my partner voiced out in concern, "How are you feeling? You suddenly collapsed. We couldn't wake you no matter how much we tried, and you were burning up."

"I'm fine," I voiced out, once I managed to gather my bearings, "How long was I out?"

"Barely five minutes." She responded, "But you were unresponsive, and your pulse was irregular."

"What happened?" Melissa demanded forcefully.

I told them of my encounter, and of my current condition. At the end, Melissa looked green with regret.

"I'm sorry," she said, "This is all my fault. If it wasn't for my stupid theory…"

"Hey," I said, gently wiping tears away from her eyes, "this wasn't your fault. I was at fault for being too reckless and rushing into this. None of this was you guys' fault." The last part was directed to both of them.

"Thankfully, we seem to have a place to start. The Five Elements."

"But what could that mean?" Momo questioned, "Should we gather a bunch of elemental quirks and give it a try?"

"No way!" Melissa was the first the deny this course of action, "Overconsumption of Quirks was what led him to this condition, and you want to give him _more?_"

"Actually," I began, "I think that's exactly what we need."

"You can't actually agree to this reckless course of action?" Melissa protested.

"When I was inside my mind, I was able to combine Quirks together, so that they are become more 'digestible' for the core. Not all the Quirks were compatible, and some weren't able to combine with each other. However, if we use the self-suppressing and self-begetting characteristic of the Five elements, we might be able to create a self-sustaining cycle, and maintain balance within One for All until it can fully 'digest' the new quirks."

"You realize that if you're wrong, you would be drastically reducing the time frame from three months to who knows when, right?"

"That's true." I conceded, " So what do you propose?"

The blonde girl bit her lips in consternation.

"Could we go to UA for this?" Momo proposed, "The staff and faculty are all prominent heroes. Someone _must_ be able to help."

"We can't," I said, "not with something like this. It'll expose the secret of One for All. At most, only All Might can know of this, but even that is…"

"What?" Melissa questioned.

I grimaced slightly, "I worry about his reaction to this. He might just decide to keep me under close watch while he figures out a way. Not only does that waste his and my time, he's also currently focused on the search for my mom. Introducing me as a variable during this time won't help anyone."

"If we can't tell anyone, and All Might is useless, then what can we do?" Momo clenched her fists in frustration.

"This isn't something we can leave alone, Izuku. You're on a clock here."

"I know," I reached out to brush her arm reassuringly, "which is why I can't go back to UA."

The girls both froze.

"What?" Momo's voice quavered, "Are you saying… you're going to leave?"

"I have to," I replied, "I'm a walking time bomb. I have three months left to live, unless I do something about my condition. This isn't time to be wasting my time at school playing hero."

"But what are you going to do? Where are you going to go?" Momo asked.

"I'm going to try to collect the remaining Quirks that I'll need to complete the Five Elements, and while I'm doing that, try to pick up on the trail of Tomura Shigaraki and the League of Villains. I'll need to constantly be on the move, too. I'm not afraid of them, personally, but they've already demonstrated that they've no qualms about going after my loved ones. That means I'll probably have to keep my distance from you two for a while, too."

"No," Melissa protested, "that is absolutely not necessary."

"I don't want to place you two in danger," I said, "remember, if I can't solve my condition in three months, I go kaboom. If you two are around me at that time, I can't guarantee your safety."

"I'm coming with you," Melissa said, "this is non-negotiable."

"Mel–"

"This situation is, in some part, my fault too. Besides, if you leave me here, there's no guarantee that I'll ever see you again."

She looked at me with slightly watery eyes.

"Between a lifetime of never seeing you again, I'd rather take my chances with three months of life with you."

"Melissa…" I was touched.

"I'm coming too," Momo chimed in.

"You too?"

"I'm feel the same way as Melissa," Momo stated, "and besides, I'm your partner, remember? I'm going to stick by you through thick and thin."

"But what about your family?"

"Oh, they'll be fine. Worried, but I'll make sure to give a valid excuse so they don't worry too much. Something like, 'I'm eloping with by beloved, don't come looking for me–' should do the trick."

"If you say that, I'm going to worry about bounties being placed on my head, you know."

"I pity anyone who picks up your bounty."

"So you've already accepted this as a possible outcome!?"

Momo gave a little smile, "You're not getting rid of me that easily."

I glanced between the two beauties, touched at their admissions.

"You realize this will be a life on the run, right? It won't be easy, and there won't be any turning back once we embark on this path."

"Psh, stop being dramatic, Izuku," Melissa snorted, "when do we leave?"

**Green**

**An unknown location**

"How goes the investigation, Esdeath?" Tomura Shigaraki questioned the bluenette impatiently. "It's dragging on. Have you located Izuku Midoriya's whereabouts?"

The lady in question rolled her eyes. "Patience, Shigaraki. These things take time. The heroes and the authorities seemed to have taken steps to protect his information. I will need a few more days."

The boy hissed in frustration, "That is what you told me last time. And the time before that. Are you actually this incompetent?"

Her eyes immediately transformed into icy flints, boring into the young villain with all the intensity of a raging blizzard.

"Watch your tongue, you impertinent imbecile," she seethed, "Remember that I work for your master, not you. You would do well not to anger me. Right now, I am still a much more useful chess piece than you are."

Shigaraki sneered, "So you say. However, I wonder how long that will last."

Esdeath narrowed her eyes further. "What are you insinuating?"

"Just that you have been keeping some interesting secrets from Sensei. Secrets like your ability to freeze time."

"It is no secret," Esdeath declared, "I only never deemed it necessary to use until my fight with Izuku Midoriya."

"Yes, but it is still an interesting tidbit of information you withheld from my master. The ability to stop time…" Shigaraki snickered, "… why, even someone of Sensei's means wouldn't be able to defend against that. I wouldn't be surprised if, one of these days, he summons you for a… visit."

Esdeath glared coldly, "I see what you're trying to do, Shigaraki. It's not going to work. Leave my sight before I freeze you."

"Hmph. Don't say I didn't warn you. And what of our… prisoner? I haven't seen her since you brought her in."

"For good reason. We need her alive, to use as leverage against Izuku Midoriya. If I left you alone with her she'd break in two minutes."

"There's plenty of ways to ensure someone stays alive whilst… playing with them."

"Enough," Esdeath announced, "Inko Midoriya is _my_ toy. Keep away from her, if you value your life."

"So cocky and confident, Esdeath," Shigaraki murmured, turning to walk away. "I wonder how long you can keep up the act? The noose is ever tightening. Hmhmhahahahaha!"

Esdeath followed Shigaraki's retreating figure with a frigid gaze until he was out of sight, before releasing a quiet sigh.

_What an annoying fellow…_

She wasn't used to tiptoeing around people like this. Brusque as her interaction with Shigaraki might have seemed, this was actually her being intentionally delicate with him. She knew that she was on thin ice right now.

_He was right about one thing. I'm definitely on All for One's radar, now._ Before, she had only demonstrated the ability to generate ice as her Quirk. Powerful, but ultimately not something that All for One would be interested in. However, the time-stop ability threw a curveball into the equation. It was a devastatingly powerful assassination tool, undefeatable if you didn't know of it's existence. To this day, Esdeath had never failed to end someone with her time-freeze until she met Izuku MIdoriya. It was her greatest trump card, and her greatest equalizer. But know All for One knew of that trump card, and would be on guard against it. Worse, he would covet it. Alone, Esdeath knew she was no match for that century old monster, not to mention his freakishly powerful servants. She would need help.

But who from? She had no friends. Her 'colleagues' were all loyal to All for One. And who in the world was strong enough to protect her from the clutches of the Greatest Evil? All Might? Perhaps. But the Symbol of Peace was rumored to be weakened, and approaching him was equivalent to handing herself in to the authorities. No, All Might wouldn't do. The rest of the top heroes were useless too, in that regard.

So who else? Only one person came to mind. The only person who survived Mahadoma, and lived to tell the tale. The miracle child: Izuku Midoriya. Only he was in the unique position to help her.

That was why Esdeath had taken it upon herself to shield Inko Midoriya in any way she could. The orders to kidnap her were absolute, and she couldn't disobey them openly, but afterwards? She used her reputation as a skilled torturer to sweep Inko Midoriya under her jurisdiction, and forbade all other League members from approaching under threat of death.

She needed Inko Midoriya healthy and safe, such that when the time came, she would be able to use her to appeal to Izuku Midoriya. In addition, she had volunteered herself for the mission of locating the green wonder. This served a double purpose: to buy herself and Izuku time, as well as giving her the opportunity to be the first in contact with him, should she find him. Esdeath clenched her fists.

_This is embarrassing, having my life be dictated by someone else. But I've no choice to bow my head for now…_

_Izuku Midoriya. I'll help protect your mother for now. So when the time comes, protect me too._

_ I'm seriously counting on you._

**Green**

**AN: So I'm back! Sorry for the delay. Life got in the way, but mostly it was a severe case of writer's block. I was really conflicted with the direction I wanted this story to go in: whether or not I wanted to stick to canon or do my own thing. Both had it's merits, and I was debating between the two options for a long time, and that caused a huge delay in the writing time, I guess. Eventually, I decided to be brave and branch off from canon, which you'll see happened this chapter. A couple of issues I had with this story: Firstly, Izuku was way too strong. I know I wrote him that way, and this is fanfiction so I know a badass motherfucker Izuku is what y'all came here to read, but honestly just Primarch physique+ One for All was already enough to one shot most things in the My Hero Academia verse. Probably. Adding Kurogiri and Nomu's powers on top of that? I was slightly worried that we won't even be able to see those powers get utilized because no one would be strong enough to force him to use them (except maybe AFO). On top of THAT, I had also, stupidly, decided to give him even MORE powers, because why not? He could. Why wouldn't he take full advantage? So this story was in danger of having literally zero... well, 'danger.' So I got to thinking: if no one else can harm him, then what about Izuku himself? What if there WAS a drawback to such rapid growth in power? **

**So, I thought of the 'power imbalance' gimmick. I'm not entirely sure if I pulled it off, but I tried my best. This should be the 'incentive' Izuku needs to finally do his own thing, and also, by placing his life in danger, I give him an excuse to go and get EVEN STRONGER than he already is. **

**After reading some of the reviews, I decided to take up some of your suggestions and leave out the festival. I couldn't think of many plot points to change, so even if I ended up writing it, it would probably just be pages and pages of Izuku oneshotting his classmates. Boring. We all knew none of them could touch him. UA is getting too small for our budding Emperor, lol.**

**Also, I was surprised by the reactions to Esdeath! Some of you reacted with extreme vitriol, while others professed a soft spot for the blue haired general. I was always going to have her take the role of 'enemy turned friend', by the way. Esdeath is, paradoxically, a simple and complex character to portray. From the source material, we know that she is definitely capable of savage cruelty. However, she is also capable of extreme love and compassion. At her core, Esdeath is someone who respects absolute strength. That is why she respects All for One so much, and was initially willing to to become his subordinate. However, Esdeath isn't someone who places blind faith in anyone, which is why she kept her trump card, Mahadoma, a secret from All for One. This was her equaliser, something that would allow her to be on 'equal' negotiating grounds with All for One. If things ever went south with her Boss, she would use this to kill him. I don't think anyone in BnHA (so far) has the ability to survive Esdeath's attacks should she be given time to wail on you. Izuku only survived because she didn't know he had two hearts. Like he said, if she had gone straight for the head, things would've gone very differently. Anyway, so now that she's exposed her trump card, and All for One knows about it, he'll definitely be interested in obtaining such a rare and powerful Quirk. Esdeath is self-aware enough to realize this fact, and so she makes plans to jump ship. **

**So don't worry, Inko was never really in any real harms way. From Esdeath, at least. It was still fun to watch you guys jump, though. Stay tuned for the next chapter. Izuku, Momo and Melissa embark on a journey of their own, keeping themselves under the radar. Esdeath has to find Izuku, and soon, because her time is ticking too. **

**Let me know your thoughts in the reviews. If there are any major mistakes, let me know and I'll fix them. All of my work is unbeta'd.**

**Dollarboy, out.**


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